A Second Front
by Kushite
Summary: Centers after the premiere of season two. Two new characters shed light on both the war against Skynet and the anthropomorphism of machines. Contains J/C action, but focuses more on everyone's development as a character.
1. Prologue

Prologue:

It was just like any other fall night in rural Washington State. On Jacobs Lane, a small road which cuts through the Cascade mountains, there was an eerie quiet, save for the pitter-patter of raindrops colliding with asphalt, a sound that could often be heard in a deciduous rain forest. If one didn't know better, they might find themselves entranced by a sense of awe at the serenity of their surroundings. They would probably lose track of time due to the repetitive cadence of the falling water; they would probably find it hard to see due to the almost total absence of light or any other sign of human intervention. They probably would not see the white 1994 Chrysler New Yorker flying down the road at speeds well in excess of the posted limits until it was too late.

Sergeant Seth Vincent of the Washington National Guard didn't give any of this a second thought has he shattered the tranquility of the ecosystem in front of him. He was too busy beating himself up.

_I can't believe that I over-slept! _Seth thought to himself, pounding his steering wheel furiously as he drove toward Ft. Rhodes, located about 50 miles due East of Seattle. _The General is going to have my ass for this one. I am a dead man! _

Fate has a way of fulfilling the prophecies that no one really wants to come true.

The New Yorker's engine wheezed under the speed, having to perform much more work than the that for which the car had ever been intended. Its tires screeched threats of hydroplaning, and the rain, which by now was a virtual monsoon, covered its windshield with water faster than its worn-down wipers could clear. All of these things should have signaled to Seth to slow down, but by now, the Sergeant was erratic.

_Only 30 minutes left, and I'm still an hour away!_

He didn't see the turn coming up.

_Why does this keep happening to me._

His tires lost all traction on the road and he was literally sliding at 60mph.

_Sometimes I wish I could just...Oh Shi-_

Seth didn't finish that exclamation. A strange flash of light on the road snapped him back to reality and he saw that his car was about the head over the side of the mountains. He cut the wheel as hard as he could, but the only thing that he succeeded in doing was breaking his car's suspension. The old vehicle ran into the side rail and bounced over, sliding into the trees in the riven below the road. Nineteen times out of 20, a person in an accident like that would have been killed on impact. Unfortunately for Seth, he wasn't one of them.

He stumbled out of his now-completely destroyed sedan. Coughing and huffing as he walked around to inspect the damage, his vocabulary became one formed entirely of profanities. He felt himself over and found that he had no major injuries, other that what felt like a twisted lower leg and perhaps some cracked ribs. He began the climb back up from the road, counting his blessings on one hand, and cursing the inconvenience of wrecking in the middle of no where on the other.

After sloshing his way back onto the pavement, Seth decided that there was really no better option than to start the walk West on the road and hope to run into someone. "Damn it all to hell!" he cried as he stepped in a big puddle of water. He moved to get out of it, when he noticed his foot was stuck. Had there been more light available to him, Seth may have noticed that the "water" was not a clear color, but rather a metallic silver. Had he been a chemist or metal worker, Seth may have been been able to identify the metallic liquid as an alloy of Columbine-Tantalite, also known as coltan. Had he had intimate knowledge of the future, Seth may have realized that he just made the biggest mistake of his life.

Despite his ignorance on three fronts, Seth found himself coming to the horrible realization that something was wrong. He tried with everything he had in him to pull his foot away, but his leg just seemed to keep sinking. He reached down with both hands to try and pull it out. But the puddle grabbed the three of the limbs and tugged them further in. He cried with fear as he collapsed into the platinum goo. The liquid moved up his torso and onto his face.

Seth yelled as the liquid invaded his mouth and nose. It made its way down his esophagus and through his intestines, rupturing his organs and poisoning his blood stream. He began to cough up the bile that was his guts His bones scattered under the immense force and his muscles dissolved as if they were sugar cubes tossed in water. Seth would have screamed for help at the top of his lungs, had they not been already filled with liters of dense, viscus, cold death. His body no longer obeyed him as his mind could do nothing by watch in horror as every living cell in its body cavity was liquefied and excreted out of the nearest orifice. Then came a _pop _from inside his head and Seth's world went dark.

***

As passing motorist noticed a body lying just off the side of the road and stopped to check on it. As he approached, Seth arose, although he was decidedly not the Seth that fell to ground less than 30 minutes earlier. His viscera, pluck and damn-near everything else in his body was gone, splashed across the asphalt in front of him. His bones were now made out of solid coltan. His organs were now replaced with replicas made out of the most advanced computer technology that the world would ever see. And in the hearth were his soul once lay, a vast, empty void took its stead.

"You alright buddy?" the motorist asked, with a look of concern.

"Yes," Seth replied, in a monotonic, almost mechanical voice. And before the motorist could see what was coming, a metal spike shot out of Seth's right hand and straight through the motorist's eye, rupturing his brain.

"I'm just great," Seth finished, before breaking into a very maniacal cackle. "Killing you worthless meat-bags is much more enjoyable in person."

With those final words, Seth took the motorist's keys and sped off in his car. Destination: Los Angeles.


	2. Chapter 1

Chapter One: Axis Mundi

An uneasy stillness hung over the suburban neighborhood. It was yet too early in the fall for there to really be a cold night, nor would it ever be very cold in the Los Angeles metropolitan area. Nevertheless, the atmosphere was still one that would bring chills down one's spine. There was a sound of life throughout the streets, but it was signified by the strange noises and eerie rustles that caused people fear of going out in the night. It was precisely for this reason that no one noticed two teenagers fleeing frantically through the darkness.

_This shouldn't be happening._

John could say that about the vast majority of events in his life. All of them just seemed illogical, surreal, like it was all part of some nightmare that he got from watching too many science fiction movies. But, as with all of the others things that should never have been happening to him, this one was. He knew that he shouldn't be surprised to be chased by a terminator; it was, after all, his whole life. And he knew that it wasn't really the fact that he was being chased by a terminator. It was the fact that it was _this _terminator. This terminator shouldn't be here. He should have been locked away behind blast doors, trapped 'til Kingdom come (which would be in about four more years).

"At our current pace, he will catch up to us in approximately 38 seconds," Cameron said neutrally. Although she could run much faster than her current pace, she matched stride with the one she was programmed to protect, who despite running every morning a being in good physical shape, suffered from the unfortunate aliment of being a mere human. Eventually he would tire, and the ever-persistent machine would not. Even the machine could tire, that wouldn't stop it. A terminator's whole existence hinged on killing the one who would eventually destroy its maker. The machine knew nothing of fatigue, or limitations or reconsideration. Those things were indicative of free will, of having choices and paving one's own path. To a terminator, there are one two choices: succeed or fail.

And failure was _not_ an option.

_Well it could be worse, _John thought to himself. _I could be running from Cameron again._ He would give anything not be chased by Cameron again, anything not to have to know that it was his life or hers. He had to make that choice once already, when he removed her chip after she had tried to kill him, and didn't know if he could bring himself to do so again. Sure, Cameron was quirky and potentially destructive. But she was his protector and friend. As much of a friend as a cold-hearted machine could be that is.

Cold-hearted as she may have been, Cameron was indeed right; Carter was closing in. Next to her, John began showing signs of fatigue: His breathing became faster and less efficient, and his gait became more and more irregular. _This is the problem with humans, _Cameron thought. All of the strength and will power that John could possibly posses would not make him last more than a few more minutes. Meanwhile, Carter pursued his quarry with a rhythmic consistency, as if he knew that this was all just a matter of time...

Cameron knew she'd have to find out how he'd escaped later. Right now, she had to divine a way to get her and John out of this.

She immediately started running probability scenarios:

_Attempt to flee: 10 percent chance of success_

_Attempt to fight: 45 percent chance of success given current parameters_

Forty-five percent... yeah, right. Just then, a silver sedan raced down the street toward the two hapless teens. Cameron managed to pull John to the ground and out of the way seconds before the car would have slammed into him. Though his face was still buried in the lawn to which Cameron had pulled him, John could hear the sound of metal twisting and glass shattering as the sedan wrapped itself around a nearby street light. John's next thought was one of concern for the driver. That was, until he looked up to see who stepped out of the car: Cromartie, Connor enemy number one. The death machine easily push aside the metal that would have trapped and human in the car indefinitely, provided they weren't killed in the crash on the first go. The cyborg shown no damage, save the fact that the organic covering on the machine's eyes was torn off as a result of the broken windshield. Those light blue eyes that helped Dr. Flemming reassure his patients and later helped Cromartie evade detection from the outside world were gone, and in their places, deep red optical sensors now shone. Their soul-less brightness glowed more brightly as they trained on their master's primary target.

Since Cameron and John had stopped running and still lay motionless on the ground, it took Carter much less than the anticipated 38 seconds to reach his quarry. As he approached the scene the same lifeless light glinted in his own eyes. Seeing the two terminators continue their endless, mechanical march toward the two on the ground, Cameron reevaluated her probability scenarios:

_Attempt to flee: 3.1 percent chance of success_

_Attempt to fight: 5 percent chance of success given new parameters_

If Cameron had been human, she may have shown fear at these slim chances. And maybe part of her did feel a hint of fear, but it was more a fear of letting John die and failing at her mission than it was really about her own imminent demise. Cameron did not want to die; that was something that she was sure of. But if she had her choice on her way to go, it would be here, like this, fighting to give John a chance to escape, to live. She knew that he wouldn't understand and that he would want to try to fight with her. But that was impractical. John wouldn't be able to land a blow before cold metallic hands ended his life. Then again, she didn't really expect to last much longer than John would.

Regardless, she knew she had to fight back anyway. "Get out of here John," she said, and without hesitation, she leaped up and charged the two killing machines.

Even in one-on-one combat, Cameron would be outmatched by a T-888. Add to this the fact that there were two of them out there, and John knew that Cameron had just run headlong into a battle she couldn't win. He didn't have to wait long to see how right he was, as Cameron was quickly overpowered by the duo. With no guns or other type of weapon with which to attack, she began to kick and punch Carter with all her might. The triple-8 merely blocked all of her attacks and knocked her to the ground with one of his own. Cameron bounced up and tried her luck with Cromartie, not only doing the same negligible about of damage to him, but also receiving a much nastier retaliation. In his time spent in combat against Cameron, Cromartie learned how to most effectively dispatch the much smaller and weaker model before him. With a quick jab to the head, he knocked her back. He followed with a roundhouse kick, which sent Cameron flying to the ground. Before she had time recover, he picked up a piece of metal from the wreckage, and rammed it into the TOK's abdomen, causing her to writhe on the ground from the shock in the process.

The move didn't hurt Cameron in the sense of pain, since machines weren't programmed with such feeling; however it did cause her body to spasm from the damage. She then ran a diagnostic on her injuries:

_Abdominal exoskeleton: sustained 43 percent damage--reparable. Power cell running at 67 percent efficiency—reparable. Mobility reduced to 35 percent. Rerouting power from auxiliary systems to vital units and emergency motor functioning equipment. Estimated Time for completion of rerouting: 35 seconds._

If only she had 35 seconds to spare. For the time being, Cameron only had control of her upper body. She didn't have to run probability scenarios in order to know that she was completely SOL.

_I've got to do something,_ John thought, clearly having ignored Cameron's request/order to leave. There was no way he was going to let someone else die for him while he was there and able to fight, even if that someone were a machine. Disregarding the fact that he was just a fragile human organism and would be easily be crushed in combat, the fact that he was supposed to lead the human race to victory against the forces of Skynet and was thusly too important to risk his own life in a hopeless battle, and the fact that Cameron herself would never have approved of any action taken on his part that did not involve him running to safety, John picked up the biggest rock he could find, threw it at Carter's head and yelled "Aren't I your primary target?"

The terminators shifted their focus from the minute threat of the machine before them, and onto one John Connor, the man whom all terminators were programed to kill. Cromartie made good on his programming by quickly seizing John – who had no further bright ideas after drawing the machine's attention away from the damaged Cameron – by the throat and attempted to complete his mission.

"John, no!" Cameron screamed in a very frightened voice -- which surprised John despite the fact that he was about the lose consciousness -- as she attempted to get up and reach her charge in before it was too late..

She didn't reach him in time --

A loud crack sounded throughout the neighborhood. John fell to the ground and Cameron to her knees. She couldn't believe that John was dead, that her whole reason for existence was gone, that..._Wait, did John just move?_

Cameron visually scanned John's body to see that he was, in fact, still alive, although knocked unconscious. After running to him so that she could further examine his condition, Cameron concluded that John suffered no permanent injury. It was then that Cameron noticed what the real source of the crack was. Cromartie fell into a kneel, his lower right leg nearly broken in half, and attempted to locate the source of his sudden crippling. Carter looked too, and just as he switched his view to infrared vision to check the area for possible threats, a kick met him in the face, which sent him spiraling to the ground.

-- Apparently, He reached him instead.

Cameron could honestly say that she had never seen the man before. He was a tall, black and powerful figure. He looked to be in his late thirties, although his face looked much older than that. His hair was cut short and had begun to gray on the sides. His eyes, dark as his skin, stared coldly at the recovering automatons. He was ready for a fight.

He turned – his eyes just barely softening as he broke his gaze from the machines and to the two nearly-slain victims – and said, with what Cameron would later identify as a North African accent, "Go from here child, and take the Connor boy with you."

Cameron needed no further persuasion as she picked up John and carried him away over her shoulder, seeing the two machine descend on the stranger before she slipped off through the night. Though she was mostly at ease from knowing that John was safe and would be all right, a thought began to creep into her circuitry: _Who was that, and why did he feel the need to die to protect John?_

She wouldn't realize until later that John Connor was not the center of everyone's world.

***

Pete's Place was known as the toughest bar in Salem, Oregon. On a nightly basis, the bartender would have to break up fights and throw people out. More than once, he had to face off against would-be robbers or belligerent alcoholics. It was the kind of place that moms would warn their children about. That all being said, Pete's Place was also the most exciting place in town. Despite the dangerous atmosphere, or perhaps because of it, those that strolled into Pete's after the sun went down enjoyed the flavors and sensations of the urban underground. The bar represented a chance to break away, let one's hair down and have a night to remember. And almost no one left Pete's disappointed.

But the man sitting down at the center—the exact center—of the bar was having none of it.

Seth just stared straight head, gazing into the saloon mirror in front of him. He was trying hard not to draw any unwanted attention to himself. He hadn't said a word to the bartender since he arrived, only giving the man a small nod as he took his seat. He felt foreign here—understandably so, seeing as he was a cybernetic organism seated in a room crowded with humans, all busy enjoying the evening out. On a few occasions since he had been sitting there, people had given him looks from across the bar, to which he always responded blankly before turning back to face the mirror.

All things considered, this body was a lucky choice for Seth. A man from the military would make a decent cover for him as well as disguising his lapses in his social camouflage. He had stopped at an army supply store outside of Snohomish to replace the clothes that he soiled as he took over this body. No one had any inkling that he was different than anyone else. But as Seth reached up to touch his cheek, he became uncomfortable. This face—this _human_ face—was going to take some getting used to for him. He loathed the face, although wanting looks from female passers-by indicated that the Sergeant had an attractive appearance. He loathed the skin that covered his beautiful coltanic form. Looking around, Seth reaffirmed that he loathed the humans who infested the bar. How he would love the day in which all of these vermin would disappear in a flash...

His train of thought was derailed by a voice behind him.

"Drinking alone, are you?"

Seth turned his head to see a young woman walking up to take the seat to his right. Her shoulder length brown hair hid one of her deep blue eyes. She wore a bright smile and let out a small giggle as she sat down. Although Seth really had no interest in speaking to the woman, he thought is was best to make conversation in order not to draw unwanted attention to himself.

"Yes ma'am I am." The pistons in his exoskeleton pulled his stolen facial muscles into a smile. "I just wanted to get a chance to stop and smell the roses before I had to get back to work."

"You know all work and no play makes Jack a dull boy," the stranger said as she shifted her seat closer to Seth's.

"But my name is Seth..." He had just learned that himself a few hours ago, after searching the pockets of his new-found host. After heading to South to Seattle from the supply store, he decided to travel south along Interstate 5 toward Los Angeles. He stopped in Salem to refuel and decided to step in at Pete's place to gather more information on human interaction, a job he abhorred immensely, but knew was important for the task which lay ahead..

"It's an expression, dude. I'm Natalie." She extended her petite hand for Seth to accept. He did and after their greetings the bartender walked up to the two and asked them what they wanted to drink.

"I'll take a Margarita on the rocks please."

"All right, and for you, sir."

"Scotch." It was the first drink that Seth had retrieved from his data banks. While he knew that he would not feel the encumbering effects of alcohol in his system, he wanted to look as inconspicuous as possible. Natalie's small smirk indicated to him that he made a proper choice.

As the bartender was gathering the alcohols, Natalie turned once again to Seth.

"So what are you doing out in a sleepy town like Salem anyway?"

"Just passing through. On my way to California."

"Well why don't you take a little detour by my house tonight?"

Seth noticed—both by Natalie's tone of voice and her facial expression—that she was implying that the two of them would have a sexual encounter. While any man would have easily accepted such an invitation, just the thought of intimate contact with a human man Seth sick to his food processing unit. He would have liked to think that if a human every solicited sex to him that he would promptly snap her neck. However something in Seth seemed diffuse, and any murderous desire was distilled into a polite declination.

"No can do. I really should leave as soon as possible."

"Oh, I see." Natalie had a look of dejection on her face. Seth couldn't place why he had a slight queasy feeling. The look of disappointment made Seth feel...bad, the only way to describe it, really. Not accepting such a vague answer, Seth further searched his data banks. After a detailed, but almost instantaneous analysis, he surmised that the emotion he was feeling was guilt, and that made him want to leave even more.

"You have a girl already."

"Yes, I do." Seth felt it best to lie to Natalie in order to draw the least amount of attention to himself. Although, now that he thought of it, that wasn't exactly a _lie._

"I bet she's beautiful."

"She sure is." Seth said this as he downed the scotch the bartender had recently given him. Standing, he pulled out his wallet and handed the man more money than a glass of scotch would cost. "That's for the lady's drink too." He then gave Natalie one last curt nod before he strode out the door, not fully understanding the act of altruism he had just committed.

As he opened his car door, Seth pulled out the cell phone he found in his army jacket. I dialed a number from memory, although he had never used it before. The phone rang three times before he heard a woman's voice come through from the other end.

"Catherine Weaver speaking."

Seth responded by making a high-pitched screech which was inaudible to human ears. In fact, any human who would have heard the sound would have bled from the hears and died on the spot. Luckily for Catherine, she was no human.

There was a pause after Seth finished

"Yes sir, awaiting your orders."

"Meet me at 27003 McBean Pkwy in Santa Clarita at 1200 tomorrow."

"Affirmative."

And with that confirmation, Seth closed the phone and sped off into the night.

***

Hearing the dial tone, Catherine closed her phone and replaced it on her night stand. She lay back on her bed and closed her eyes. She didn't sleep, because she wasn't tired. T-1001s didn't grow tired. As like all other models of terminator, they were programmed to do their tasks with an endless, undaunted consistency that only a machine could achieve. But for now, lying here was enough for Catherine.

"Mommy, mommy."

Catherine heard the voice as she felt a small thud on her stomach. Opening her eyes, she stared into the face of Savannah Weaver, her daughter. Well, _daughter_ isn't really the correct way to describe it, seeing as Catherine had killed Savannah's real mother and father and just changed her appearance to take her place. The mission was simple: replace Catherine Weaver in order insure the creation of and eliminate all threats to Skynet.

Only it wasn't that simple.

The old Catherine Weaver had a life. She had a company to manage; she had a daughter. So now this new titanium Catherine had to negotiate living life and completing her mission. For the most part, that was easy. There really were more hours in the day when one didn't need to sleep or eat. She could easily run a corporation with the knowledge that Skynet gave her. But Skynet never foresaw that Catherine would need to learn how to be a mother.

And Catherine wasn't very good at it. For the first few months of their relationship, Catherine treated Savannah as a person may treat a plant. She fed her, bathed her, looked after her. She did all the things that all the things that a beget often did for their offspring. But it wasn't enough. Savannah was scared of Catherine. For although she did not physically abuse the child, Catherine caused Savannah intense emotional stress. In the place of her mother's constant attentions, Savannah had received cold indifference. Instead of hearing her mother's kind, soft words, Savannah had heard curt orders veiled with a hint of threat. Instead of feeling her mother's warm embrace, Savannah felt the cold of Catherine's metallic stare.

So it was just a matter of time before observers made the suggestion to Catherine to take Savannah in to see a child therapist. Catherine did not really care about Savannah's state of mind at the time, but knew an emotionally distraught child would bring about much unnecessary attention. Still, walking into the psychiatrist's office, Catherine was ready to kill the doctor if the girl revealed any information what would compromise Catherine's identity and endanger the mission. Savannah ended up not saying enough to cost the man his life.

Although Savannah was too scared to tell Dr. Sherman the truth—plus she probably couldn't comprehend the truth even if she wasn't scared—he managed to discern the general problem: Catherine was not the same person that she was before the helicopter crash that claimed her husband's life. The doctor didn't realize how right he was of course, and Catherine had no desire to enlighten him. Rather, she took his advice and attempted to be more motherly to Savannah.

After watching videos of her predecessor (Catherine preferred that term to _template_) Catherine began to take further steps to resemble the mother that Savannah lost. This included the subtle gestures and sayings that most people take for granted, such as she was doing now in stroking Savannah's long, red hair, receiving a wide smile in return as the young girl grabbed the terminator's hand. The cold fear melted away into a new warm affection for the person whom the girl thought was her mother. As a result, the girl clung to her all the time, and the machine could think of nothing more appropriate to do than to return the affections. As time went on, however, this _love, _if one could name it such, became less reactionary and more proactive on Catherine's part, and she began to wonder if she was just simulating these emotions, or if she was _feeling _them.

Catherine knew that Skynet had given her a high level of autonomy due to the fact that she had such a long-term mission, a mission on which she was never to waver. But as she stared into Savannah's light blue pools of hope and innocence, she felt a level of doubt creep into her mind. _Why couldn't I have just been sent to kill John Conner like the rest of them?_

_And I am searching for the answers_

_And I look around sometimes I get sad, _

_'Cause I don't know which way to go, _

_And I look around sometimes I get sad, _

_'Cause my life is spinning out of control_

Catherine broke her gaze with Savannah to grab the source of the sound. Opening her phone again, she read the name "Ellison" and pushed 'talk.'

"What can I do for you, Agent?"

"Miss, Weaver, I think I have found a lead on the machine you want me to find. I would rather not discuss the details over the phone. Would there be a time at which you'd want me to meet you?"

"I will be out of town for the entire day tomorrow, Agent. Stop by my office around noon on Sunday."

"You go to work on a Sunday? I have church until 1:00 anyway."

"You and I both know that you don't go to church anymore."

There was a silence between the two of them.

"All right, see you at noon on Sunday."

Catherine once again closed the phone. Moving her head a half-inch, she noticed Savannah's freckled face now held twist of sadness.

"But mommy, you said that we were going to go to the toy store tomorrow." Catherine reached up to touch her chest to reaffirm that the hole that Savannah's look of sadness had bored in her chest was just metaphysical. She didn't want to disappoint her _daughter_. But orders were orders, and even a T-1000 knew when to listen to a command.

"I'm sorry Savannah, we'll have to some other day. Why don't you spend the day with Dr. Sherman, okay?" Catherine took Savannah's now beaming face as an acceptance of the compromise. "Now run off to bed."

Savannah gave Catherine one was deep hug before she leaped of the bed and ran to her bedroom. As Catherine watched her go, her face hardened like stone. Underneath, however, the cyborg was dreading her eminent encounter.


	3. Chapter 2

Chapter 2: Family Feud

Cameron continued her long trek back home, John unceremoniously slumped over her shoulder, as he was when first picked him over an hour ago. Her damaged abdomen was going to require a moderate amount of repair, but it was functional enough to get them back home. She strongly considered finding a vehicle in order to expedite their journey, but she refrained from doing so for the same reason that she refrained from changing her grip on John.

_He seems so peaceful, _Cameron thought, using her scans of his pulse and breathing rate as evidence. His heart was beating slowly and strongly, and his breaths were deep and steady. He still had not regained consciousness after passing out in Cromartie's clutches, but Cameron was not worried about his recovery. Her consistent scanning of his vitals gave her reassurance.

_In fact, he seems much more at ease now than he had in a long while_. To her, John being at peace was worth the slow trot despite the fact that Cromartie and Carter could still be on her their trail. John seemed to having a dreamless sleep, and Cameron was not willing to take that away from him. It was something long overdue. Cameron had been checking on John every time while he slept ever since the night after she went bad. _But the term "bad" is not really appropriate, _Cameron reasoned with herself. _Machines have no morals; they never choose to do right or wrong. All they have is programing. _

"All I have is programing," she said, as if trying to force some rebellious part of her processor to believe her. The truth was, Cameron could not understand why she would be programed to do the things that she did–whether it was Skynet's or General Connor's programing in question. Why did the General leave so much of Skynet's networking behind? Why did Skynet make her programing so susceptible to corruption? Did they intend to do this? Or is there some higher level of work in play here?

What she did know was that the guy she was carrying had nothing to do with either decision. Yet he stayed with her along the ride. He always had patience with her when she had a lapse in social conduct. He followed her when she lost her memory and her way, and brought her back home. He stared down his own mother and uncle and pulled her back from the brink of oblivion even after she tried to kill him. She was bad then, bad because she was going to hurt John. Bad because she was going to destroy the one bright spot in her very confused existence. Why did he risk his life for her?

_"_Why?" she asked out loud in an almost angry tone, although she did not expect an answer from anyone. She looked over her shoulder at John and continued in a whisper, although the anger was still there. "I cannot keep you safe if you are willing to disregard your own welfare to bring me back. And if I cannot keep you safe, how can you ever save me again?"

Cameron immediately recognized the absurdity in her own train of thought. _Save me? How dare I expect that from him? _If she had her someone else say that, she would have considered them a threat and promptly destroyed them. _Who am I to expect anyone to save me, much less John. Furthermore, _she thought before finishing the thought out loud. "I am not a 'who'; I'm a 'what.'" She felt tears well up inside her eyes, and she angrily suppressed them. "I am not human. I never will be. And while that makes me better able to protect John, I could never be enough for him." It broke what humans would refer to as her heart to say that. Of course she wanted to be with John. But when push came to shove: Desire was irrelevant; she was a machine. Nothing was going to change that— "—and you deserve better than that. You deserve better than me." And with those words, the tears she had been fighting broke free, only to be corralled forcibly again by Cameron. If she was to get over John, she would have to stop these foolish displays of...of...humanity.

_If loving you is wrong, I do not wanna be right,_

_If being right, means being without you, I'd rather live a wrong-doing life,_

_Your momma and daddy say "it's a shame; it's a down-right disgrace,"_

_But long as I've got you by my side, I do not care what your people think._

Cameron was so entranced by the words of the song that it took her a full 30 seconds to realize that John's cell phone was going off. She reached in his side pocket and retrieved the phone. The screen displayed the name that Cameron least wanted to read: Riley.

Riley had been a consistent thorn in Cameron's side since her inception into John's life. Cameron knew that the blond posed no physical threat to John. But her presence caused Cameron resentment nonetheless. After several days of trying to logic out why she had a problem with John having a girlfriend, she came to the conclusion that she was jealous. Simple as that, except not really. Cameron knew that Jealousy was one of the most human emotions one could feel. On top of that, jealousy was one of the reasons why humans had caused so much damage to each other in their history. If she could become jealous, could she avoid doing the same harm?

All of this went through Cameron's mind as the phone continued to ring. At first, she considered simply hanging up the phone, but something inside had other plans, and before she could compute what she was doing, she had opened the phone and pushed the 'talk' button.

"Hey there sleepy head. Did I wake you? Oh, and 26, October."

"Uh, no. I was just...taking a shower," Cameron responded in a perfect imitation of John's voice, attempting to mimic his normal speech style.

"Well how's about you come over here and we can both take a shower together?"

Cameron had to resist every urge in her coltanic being to shouting at Riley, _He does not belong to you! He's mine! _and dropping John to go searching for Riley so that she could tear her limb from limb. But she realized that John was no more hers than he was Cromartie's. It was then that she knew what she had to do.

"Sorry, I can't right now. Hey, why do not you meet me at the pier tomorrow evening? Let's say around 11? Oh, and you ca not call me on this phone anymore. I will call you from another number. If you get a call from this number again, do not answer it."

"Those are sure some odd stipulations, 007. Anything else I need to know? Will this phone self-destruct in 30 seconds?"

"I do not understand..."

"Come on John, cut this crap out. What's with all the secrecy? Why ca not I call you? Why ca not you meet me sooner?"

"Oh. Thank you for explaining. Those are my rules; take 'em or leave 'em."

"Well all right. But only because you sound so adorable. Love you."

Cameron shut the phone with out giving a response. Although she tried to keep a stoic face as she turned onto the street on which the Baum/Connor residence was located, the rising sun revealed the slightest of grins on Cameron's face.

This was going to be a very good weekend.

***

"Ugh, dawn."

Sarah Connor was never one who could appreciate waking up with the sun. This was mostly due to the fact that she tended to be awake long before the sun came up. But nowadays, she tended to wake up later, move slower and have a harder time convincing herself that it was all worth it: the running, the fighting. The hoping. It was harder to believe that they were ever going to find the Turk or stop Skynet from being created. That she was going to be able to keep John away from the hands of fate.

Sarah definitely had motivation issues. But who could blame her? She herself was very young when some crazy dude named Kyle Reese came waltzing into her life, stealing her heart, and cutting out on her when she became pregnant with his child. Okay, maybe Sarah knew that that was not a fair assessment on the situation. Kyle had an excuse for not being there for her and John: He was dead. _Why could not I have been the one who died and became a martyr, rather than the one who was left behind, to live everyday in fear for my son, for the world's future?_

Sarah knew too that this was a selfish thought. Kyle and his brother Derek lived all their lives in a war zone. They had to watch as all their loved ones were rounded up and slaughtered by a blood-thirsty machine. For Reese brothers, there were no false names, or fake Ids or anything else that she and John used for hiding. In the future, there would be no place to hide.

But Sarah also knew that there would be no place for her in the future. Cameron had already told her that she was slated to die long before the bombs fell. But she would not die protecting one John Connor from the likes of a machine, like Kyle did. Cancer would be her terminator. And while the time jump from 1999 to 2007 may have skipped over her original death year of 2005, if Sarah had learned anything from her experiences, she learned this: The inevitable will always happen. No matter how hard she tried, she had been unable to stop Skynet. Her son asked her, begged her, to do so, and she failed him. With time running out, she knew that her son was probably going to have to fight the horrible war and struggle through things no mother ever wants her son to even dream about.

"But it's not over yet," Sarah said resolutely. "Not while I have strength in my body to fight."

And with that she hopped out of bed, put on some clothes and headed into the hallway.

She began her normal routine of checking on all the rooms. She went over to Derek's room, and before she could knock to see if he had awoken, the sound of snoring preemptively answered for him. She passed straight by Cameron's room, due to the fact that Cameron did not sleep, as she almost consistently reminded them. She then came up to John's room and noticed that the door was wide open. A feeling of pleasant surprise entered her mind. _John is actually awake early today. Maybe I can get him to do some chores today too._

As she entered the doorway and took in the scene before her, Sarah's feeling of happy was quickly replaced with one of dread and terror.

***

By looking at him, one would never have been able to tell that the man who lay sprawled out across his bed, sucking on the edge of his pillow, was one the most hardened soldiers in the world. However, it took Corp. Derek Reese a significant amount of time to be able to sleep for more than five minutes without jumping up ready to shoot some thing's head off.

Men like Derek—those who had been in the real war: the one versus Skynet—were few and far between in 2007.

That was a good thing.

Men like Derek did not know what to do in a world like this. They were used to years of fighting, of running, of living for days at a time without food, water or using the bathroom. When Derek was not on a mission, he would often just stare at the outside world with a look of fleeting awe, trying to memorize every sound, color, taste—every detail—as if it would all just disappear one moment in a flash of light.

Because that was exactly what was going to happen.

Men like Derek knew this, and their presence corresponded accordingly. They found everyday matters—such as saving money or meeting people—trivial, because, in four years, none of it was going to matter. Men like Derek saw death as not just an inevitability, but as a trait marked on every person from birth. Men like Derek just sat in front of a television, not really watching anything, and just staring at images of things that would make normal people happy with a far off look that signified a person who has seen too much from life ever to trust it again. While Skynet did not extinguish the life from men like Derek, it did take their soul.

That's why it was a good thing that there were not many men like Derek around in 2007; the world would have been a much sadder place.

After finding his nephew, however, Derek's demeanor changed considerably. He had a little piece of his brother and best friend Kyle with him. He could see the same courage and tenacity in John's eyes that made Kyle a gifted soldier. He could see the good in John that Kyle always had, but that he himself never did. Most of all though, he saw that same look for help from John that his little bro gave him many times when growing up. And Derek knew that he was needed once again. He would help stop Skynet, not just for John, or even for all of Mankind, but for Kyle.

"Always for Kyle," Derek mumbled, still asleep.

"WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING TO WITH SON!"

The sound of Sarah's voice was enough to jolt Derek wide awake. He rolled out of bed with the agility of a battle-readied soldier and grabbed his shotgun from under his pillow, a reminder of how far Derek still had to go in order to fully adjust to this time of peace. He unlocked his door and headed toward the sound of Sarah's cry. Stopping at John's room, he filled the gap that Sarah had just left in the doorway. He could see Sarah stepping toward Cameron, her face alight with rage. Cameron, for her part, had the same stoic/dumb look that he'd come to expect from machines, as she gently lifted a still sleeping John from off her shoulder and placed him in his bed..

Derek attempted to be on high alert. But something in the back of his mind told him everything was going to be all right. There was never any doubt that Derek did not like Cameron. Being a soldier of the future, Derek had a strong abhorrence for machines in general. But there was something—no, he already knew what it was—about Cameron that made him want to trust her. That factor made him hate her even more. So despite the fact that Derek knew that the real danger had passed, he kept his shotgun trained on Cameron's head, just waiting for the machine to give him a reason to pull the trigger.

"John's fine. He still has not regained consciousness, but he will recover."

"What did you do to him?!" Sarah's face was mere inches away from Cameron's. Had Cameron not been a terminator, she may actually have been scared of the sight.

"I did not do anything. John did not sleep last night. He wanted to go see the movie _Saw IV,_" Cameron replied in an monotonic voice, paying no special heed to Sarah's proximity. "The closest all- night theater is across town. I advised John that the proper course of action was to wait until the morning. It is too dangerous to go out in the dark. But he did not listen. I thusly went with him."

Some of Sarah's anger began to slip away. She backed away from Cameron. It seemed more and more obvious that the machine was telling the truth. John had stopped listening to her advice recently too. She knew that her son was just going through a phase and would eventually grow out of it. But that did not make it any easier for a mom to tolerate, especially when her son was being chased by blood-thirsty killing machines.

"Well that explains why you guys were out all night," Sarah conceded, decidedly less freaked-out than she was before. Still the concern did not leave her face, even though she believed Cameron that John was fine. "Did John just pass out from exhaustion or something?"

"No. While leaving the theater, we ran into Carter, who—"

"Who?" Sarah interceded in Cameron's explanation. "Who is Carter? Some friend of John's?"

"No. He is the T-888 that we locked behind the blast doors weeks ago."

"What?!" Sarah was once again on high alert. "That Carter? How did he—"

"I have not been able to ascertain that yet. He destroyed the motorcycle that we used to get to the theater, and we had to evade him on foot." Cameron's complete calm as she said this was in strict antithesis to Sarah's demeanor, as she had begun to pace John's bedroom, anxiously running a hand through her hair. Derek just stared wide-eyed at Cameron, lowering his gun. He was not with the Connors when they had their run in with Carter. While it did not surprise him that Skynet would send more than one terminator after them, the fact was no easier to swallow.

"He knows who John is? Before, he did not recognize who John was, even as they were face to face." This was very bad news. "How could he know?"

"Anything the John said or did may have alerted him to his real identity. He continued to pursue us on foot until Cromartie appeared."

"Cromartie was there too?!" This was too much for Sarah to handle. Her pacing became much quicker and she began to breathe rapidly.

"Yes. He attempted to run us over with the car he was driving, but I pulled John out of the way, and Cromartie crashed. Cromartie escaped the wreckage and began to approach John and me. Carter approached too. I jumped up to fight, but I was quickly defeated and my abdomen was damaged." Both Sarah and Derek lowered their eyes to see for the first time the blood on Cameron's shirt. In the center of the blood, the blue light of Cameron's power cell shone brightly. Sarah almost felt sorry for Cameron; Derek had no such empathy.

"Then how did you escape?"

"John...he attacked Carter and redirected both his and Cromartie's attention. Cromartie grabbed John by the neck and was in the process of terminating him when—" She paused. This had been the first time since it happened that she thought about the one who saved them. She had been so lost in her own thoughts on the way back that she neglected fully put the situation in its full context. "—when someone arrived and knocked Cromartie to his knees and Carter all the way down."

"Who was this person? Was he a resistance fighter? Another terminator?" This had been the first time that Derek injected into the conversation. This stranger deeply intrigued him.

"I do not know. I had never seen him before. He told me to go and to take John with me. And I left as the machines attacked him." In Cameron's last words, Sarah picked up a hint of remorse. She felt it too, as did Derek. Another soldier had died to protect John. They all died for him in the end.

"Could he have survived the attack?"

Cameron thought for a few seconds before answering Derek's inquiry. "Not likely. While I did not run a probability scenario at the time, I am calculating that his chance of survival was 4.88 percent."

A somber silence hung over the the three of them for a few seconds. Sarah broke it with her realization: "Carter and Cromartie are still after us. They may have followed you. It's not safe here anymore. We have to leave, now!"

"Leave? For what?"

All eyes in the room turned toward the bed. John was sitting up, wide awake and looking well-rested. He had woken up due to Sarah's last exclamation, his green eyes locked on his mom as he waited for an answer.

"Cromartie and Carter could be here any minute John!" Sarah had no patience for her son right now. "Pack what you can. We're leaving in 10 minutes."

John thought it better not to protest. As Sarah and Derk left his room, he called out "Hey Cam, hang back a minute, will you?"

Cameron complied. "Is there something you require?"

"What the hell happened last night? How'd you get us out of that mess?"

Cameron's gazed dropped as she answered. "I did not. I was not strong enough. The terminators would have destroyed me if it had not been for you." Her eyes then narrowed at him. "You should have left."

"Cam, I couldn't."

"Why not John?" John detected that Cameron had lost some of her composure. "You saw I was damaged. You should have known that it was only a matter of time before the machines got you too. Why did you stay? You would have been terminated if it were not for...him."

"Who?"

"The Dark Man. He sacrificed his life to buy us the time to leave. He did what I attempted but failed to do. He saved your life."

Cameron's voice betrayed a level of shame that John did not know that machines could feel. "Cam, I don't know what to say to that."

"Well that makes two of us. Sarah requests that we be down stairs in six minutes and 34 seconds." With a final solemn nod, Cameron strode out the door.

After she left, John jumped out and began putting as much stuff as he could in his small duffel bag. He had done this many times before, and as such he was an expert at it. This time, however, it was harder to just get his stuff and leave. _Damn, _he thought. _I've really started to like it here._

He grabbed his now-filled bag and headed down the stairs. His mom, uncle and guardian stood in the entryway waiting for him. He noticed that Cameron had changed her shirt to cover up the injury that she suffered the night before. Derek looked as stoic as always, and Sarah had regained her signature composure.

"Okay, we should probably leave town altogether. I think we should try Sacramento. We'll find a new safe house there and—"

They all turned toward door. Someone was on the other side knocking. Could it be Cromartie and/or Carter? Not likely, seeing as neither of them would really think to knock. Sarah motioned for no one to answer the door, hoping the person would just go away. But the knocking grew more frequent and louder as the moments passed. Finally, John decided enough was enough and reached for the handle. Sarah shot him a glance meaning _What the hell do you think you're doing? _John countered with his own _I'm tired of running _look.

As he open the door, Cromartie and Carter shambled in the house and to the ground. It took everyone a few seconds to see that the terminators had been rendered inactive and had suffered severe damage. It took even longer for anyone to notice the Dark Man standing just on the other side of the doorway, a wide grin on his face.

"Hi-ya neighbors, may I borrow a cup of thermite?"


	4. Chapter 3

Chapter 3: The Dark Man

"May I come in?"

After hearing no protest—everyone in the house was still rendered speechless by what had just occurred—the Dark Man took the initiative and entered the house, taking an extra-long step at the end to clear the two felled machines in the floor. He was obviously enjoying the fact that he had made a successfully dramatic entrance.

With the aid of the early morning light, Cameron was better able to examine his appearance. The Dark Man stood approximately two meters in height. He had a runner's physique except with buffer biceps and a fuller chest. A full but neatly trimmed beard covered his firm jaw. He wore a black continental suit with a black shirt and a deep red neck tie. On his head rested a jet black bowler hat with a red feather protruding from the left side. He held a piece of luggage in one his large, but gentle hands. A hilt of a sword peered out from behind his back. He still wore a broad grin on his face, as his eyes—which were a light brown despite the fact that Cameron could have sworn that they were black when she saw them the night before—scanned the room. This did not look like a man who could have defeated two triple eights.

"How..Wha...How..?" John said before just letting his mouth hang open. He seemed to be the first one of would-be-runaways to recover from the shock, although he obviously was still having a hard time of it.

"One question at a time," replied the Dark Man, visibly amused by John's stammering.

"How did you survive?" Cameron had stepped forward to fill in for John as he succumbed once again to disbelief. "You should not have been able to defeat one terminator, let alone two model T-888s." As she attempted to explain to the Dark Man that he could not possibly have won the fight, she saw a slight flash in his eye. He wasn't staring at her, he was staring _into _her. It was as if he was peering into her soul, had she had one. As his gaze neared her belly, his eyes betrayed a hint of sadness and worry in him, although his smile did not fade. Cameron understood the look immediately: he was _scanning_ her. "What—what are you?" She asked, showing a noticeable nervousness in her voice as she took several steps back.

"Not what, child. Who." The Dark Man's smile faded as he corrected Cameron, who fell in line with the rest of the flabbergasted individuals in the house. Leaving no further room for pause, the Dark Man reached up with his free hand and removed his hat, placing it over his chest. He gave a deep bow.

"I am Mayet, at your service."

***

The John and Derek sat next to each other at the dinning room table a cup of coffee siting in front of each of them. Having given up her plans for them to skip town, Sarah had instead begun making breakfast. Cameron stood next to Sarah in the kitchen, but her attention was focused on the mysterious man—Mayet, as he called himself—who stood by the back door peering out casually into the modest lawn that stretched out from the porch.Carter and Cromartie remained lying on the floor in the entryway, untouched from where Mayet had left them. Although everyone had gotten their ability to speak back (expect of course for the two now-inert machines), none had tried using it since giving following Mayet's example and giving fumbled introductions. John decided to try his luck again.

"So Mayet, what's your story?" The tall man's stare switched away from a passing car and onto the teenager who was addressing him. "You're obviously from the future, and you have a knowledge of terminators. Are you a Resistance fighter? Did my future self send you back to tell me something?"

Mayet's eyes narrowed at the inquires. His joyful demeanor had been rusted away into suspicion after he had entered the house. This silence from everyone was understandable—he had just thrown two bodies in their doorway—but it was no less unsettling. His eyes checked over every one in the room once more: He could see intense mistrust in Derek and Sarah, and Cameron seemed to be trying to work out if he were a threat or not. John, in contrast to everyone else, looked at him with wild curiosity, as though he expected Mayet to weave him a beautiful yarn of the future. He would do no such thing.

"Yes to the first one and no to the second."

"Well if I didn't send you back, who did?"

"Contrary to what others—" Mayet gestured toward Derk, Sarah and Cameron "—may tell you, you are not the only person who is worth a shit in the future, John Connor. I came here on my own free will. My mission is my own. Any further questions?"

John had to try had not to sound unnerved by Mayet's reply. This was the first time that he'd met a Resistance fighter who showed apparent resentment toward his future self. Not wanting to swat the hornets' nest, he moved on.

"Well, you have an accent, so I'm pretty sure you're not American. So where are you from?"

"After the war, boy, there is no such thing as an America. But I come from Africa, Kush to be more exact."

"Where's Kush?" John had studied Africa in many geography classes, and while he knew that the political state of the continent was very fluid, he thought he had kept up with the changes. Still, he did not recognize the name.

"Kush was an ancient civilization located where the nation of Sudan is today." Cameron's interjection caught John by surprise. While Mayet was frustrated that Cameron had interrupted him, the sides of his mouth were turned up in the smallest of smiles, his eyes trained intently on her as she continued. "Kush is oftentimes overlooked in the study of history due to the fact that it shared many of its traits with the Egyptian Empire. Kush hasn't existed for over 1500 years. Since you are from the future, how can you claim origins in an ancient nation?"

"Well that is what Kush was," Mayet critiqued, his voice much more gentle than it had been when he had answered John. "But in the future, Kush will rise again as vast nation. My people will begin to rebuild what Skynet destroyed. And we will be at peace for the first time in history." A look of pride shown upon Mayet's face as he concluded his history lesson/prediction.

"So do John and the Resistance free you guys?" Sarah had stopped scrambling eggs and now listened interestedly.

"No. Connor did not free us. He abandoned us." Mayet voice betrayed anger, which became more intense as he continued to speak. He turn his attention to John. "You abandoned us, boy. Our calls for aid fell on deaf ears! _Your_ deaf ears. You left us to our fate! You just hoped that we would provide a distraction for Skynet to buy you some time!"

Mayet stood from the table, his large size infinitely more intimidating because of his anger. Cameron began to stand, when Mayet momentarily turned his leer to her. His eyes changed color in front of her, the black eyes from previous night emerging once again to dominate her brown ones. Cameron backed down, leaving John alone to face the wrath. The young man began to squirm under the sight.

"Lucky for you—" the big man bellowed, extending is first finger to just inches from John's face. His voice then lowered in volume, but remained strong and angry in intensity as he went on. "Lucky for you we did more than just keep Skynet busy. We pushed the machines back across the strait of Gibraltar and liberated Southern Europe. More importantly, we cut off Skynet from the coltan mines in Central Africa. He lost over a million of terminators as a result.

"But a million terminators is not worth the the genocide that raged across the continent. We were rounded up and slaughtered. Or worse." Tears welled up in Mayet's eyes, but they just made him look more dangerous.

Derek looked at Mayet with an empathy that only another Resistance fighter could muster. "They did that here too. They killed us too."

"Yes, but the difference is that you had something that we didn't," Mayet replied to Derek's argument although his stare did not leave the increasingly-panicked boy. "You had a light at the end of the tunnel. You had hope. You had John Connor! What did we have?! The knowledge that we were left alone to fight the machines you created here in America!"

Mayet's news hit John's heart like a sledge hammer. He had always heard how he would one day lead mankind to victory against the machines. Now it seemed like this African army was going to do most of the saving while he stayed fighting in California. And he was going ignore Africa's pleas and leave millions of people to die at the hands of the machines that they had no part in creating? All of the sudden, John didn't feel like much of a savior.

"I'm sorry, Mayet. I had no idea I would...that I would." John suddenly became unable to finish that sentence. A combination of guilt and fear had decimated his nervous system. He couldn't think anymore. All he could feel was a pressure coming from the back of his head. It snaked its way through John's brain, eventually reaching his tear ducts. He buried his face in his hands and began to weep. Mayet's expression softened, his jade eyes eroding into amber. What had he done? He had a bone to pick with General Connor, the man who left his people to die. But this boy wasn't him, and he was no more guilty for the deaths of the African people than anyone else in the room. This boy seemed to care about the world, not just himself or America. This boy would be different.

"It was war, John," Mayet offered as he walked over and placed a hand on John's shoulder. "You did what you had to do. So did we. Luckily for all of us, it all worked out in the end. But that doesn't mean that youhave to do it _this time_. There is no fate but what we make for ourselves."

His words seemed to pacify John. The boy stopped any audible signs of crying, although he kept his face buried in his hands. Sarah stared at Mayet with a look of awe after his last sentence. _That's exactly what Kyle told me._

"That still doesn't explain how you managed to take down both Carter and Cromartie in one go." Derek stated his observation partly out of fact that his curiosity had not been satiated and partly because he wanted to break the tension that was building due to Mayet's outburst and John's subsequent tears.

Mayet tilted his head to the side as he looked at Derek with a semi-confused stare. "I don't understand..."

"The two triple eights you decorated the floor with over there." Derek complimented his definition by pointing in the direction of the front door.

"Oh, them. Thank you for explaining."

Mayet fell silent as he saw the expression change on Derek face. Looking around, he noticed that everyone now stared at him—including John, who had finally looked up from his own hands. Cameron had a look of confusion, and stared at Mayet now as if she were trying to place his face somewhere in her past. All this made Mayet decidedly uncomfortable.

"What?"

"Nothing," Sarah said, blinking and shaking her head to break herself out of her stare. Her eyes darted back in forth between Mayet and Cameron before she finally got enough sense to motion the Dark Man to continue speaking.

"Well, T-888s are really no problem." He stopped talking momentarily as Derek spit up his coffee in surprise. Mayet realized that the others in the room did not feel this way and that he needed to elaborate to make himself understood. He reached over his shoulder and pulled out his sword as he went on. "Especially when you have something like Amy here."

"You named your sword Amy?"

"Yes, boy, Amy. It's short for Ammit. She is a custom-made diamond-titanium alloy long sword. She has the strength of diamond and the durability of titanium. She is also light weight for balance and speed. Would you like to hold her?"

"Yes very much." John had cheered up since his crying. He stood up as Mayet placed Amy in his hands. After Mayet released his grip from the sword, John felt its full weight, and it fell promptly to the ground. _This is what Mayet calls light-weight! _John struggled mightily to right his mistake, lifting it off the ground and beginning to marvel at its beauty.

"Well?" Mayet noticed the excitement that John showed on his face as he scanned every detail of the sword. He also noticed that John was having an increasing amount of difficulty keeping Amy from falling again. With out waiting for an answer, he gently helped John lift the sword and leaned her blade on the table, so that the boy could examine her without fear of dropping her.

Amy was like nothing he had ever seen before. The blade had the color of pure silver, except that it had an almost translucent quality. All across the silver, John noticed the immense about of Arabic calligraphy which had to have been painstakingly etched in while when the metal was still soft. He would ask what the writing meant later, John thought. The hilt was even more beautiful. It was constructed almost entirely out of Jade, save the bottom, where a long spike that same color of the blade protruded. Where the black stone met the blade, the design sprouted off on both sides into carvings of wings. Taken as a whole, the hilt appeared to be a large black bird with a long silver tail.

"Sure, it's aesthetically pleasing, but it can't possibly be functional." Cameron had walked over to Mayet and stood in front of Mayet and Amy. "A diamond-alloy sword of that size would weigh at least 35 kilograms."

"It's actually closer to 42.78 kilos, child."

"Well that further proves my point. A sword like that is much too heavy to be an effective tool in combat. Its strikes would be too slow and its weight would encumber its wearer."

"Besides," Sarah added before Mayet had had time to offer an explanation. "Terminators are made to withstand numerous bullet wounds. They are are made out of a very strong coltan alloy. A sword couldn't slice through any part of the exoskeleton, let alone stab straight through their reinforced chest plate to destroy their power cell."

Mayet was slightly annoyed by the fact that his present company seemed to doubt Amy. He decided that a demonstration would best answer their questions. He stood up again and strolled over to the entryway and out of the view of the others. Cameron watched him go with a look of intrigue on her face. When she heard a loud _squish, _she began to walk over to find the source of the sound.

She was met half-way by Mayet, who was carrying Amy in one hand, and one of Carter's legs in the other. He stepped outside onto the porch. After seeing that everyone had followed him, he dropped the leg on the ground. Cameron waited expectantly. In what seemed like an instant. Mayet, lifted his sword up over his head, and brought it down into Carter's leg. Not only did the blade completely bisect the appendage, but it also cut straight through the concrete of the porch, leaving a foot-deep slice of dirt in its wake.

Having taken the astonished looks of the spectators as evidence that everyone now understood Amy's complete awesomeness, Mayet walked over to the hose in the back yard. He turned on the water and gently rinsed the combination of synthetic blood, powdered concrete and dirt off her blade before sliding her back into her holster. He enjoyed being able to show off her brilliance to others and for that reason, he was always glad to demonstrate to doubters feats like this. Although, this one was a bit more bloody than most of the others.

He returned to the porch moments later dragging the remains of the two T-888s with one hand. He dropped the machines and knelt down beside Carter, who was lying face-down.. He causally flipped the machine over and pulled out what appeared to be a smaller version of Amy from his breast pocket. With what was a complete lack of surgical precision, Mayet cut through Carter's armored cavity and exposed the inter-workings beneath. He torn out several pieces of the terminator's machinery before he stood again.

As Cameron watched intently, still trying to solve the mystery that was Mayet, a message popped up on her HUD:

WARNING! POWER CELL WEAKENING! WILL REROUTE ALL POWER TO VITAL UNITS IN T MINUS 600 SECONDS.

A clock then appeared on where the warning had been.

Cameron let out a barely audible gasp. Had it really been five hours since her power cell was impaled by Cromartie? She had been so distracted by the events that transpired since then that she had completely lost track of time. Furthermore, she didn't really feel her energy draining, although she really didn't didn't feel like herself now that she had thought about it.

John, who was standing next to Cameron, was the only one who heard her. "Cam, is there something wrong?"

"Yes," she replied in a calm manner, although on the inside, she was anything but. "The damage to my power cell has resulted in an energy drainage. I will have to go into standby in less than 10 minutes unless I can repair the damage."

"How long will the repair take?"

"It would only take a matter of minutes. But I need to get the proper materials for the replacement. I do not think there is enough time to collect everything that I would require before my power cell runs out of energy." Cameron's insouciant tone in her analysis was in stark contrast to her inner voice, which scolded her being as forgetful as she had just been. She was just about to give John a list of the supplies she would need when she noticed the dark hand outstretched in front of her face.

"You would means these materials."

"Yes, those would be th—" Cameron's voice trailed off as she realized what had just occurred. Not only did Mayet hand her the exact parts she needed to fix her power cell, but he also gave her the tools which she would need along with a few extra pieces of coltan to fix her abdominal exoskeleton. _How did he know?_ Cameron though, although she had already known that answer to that. He had noticed the damage when he scanned her earlier, and had just wanted until now to address the issue.

"When were you planning on fixing your power cell, child?"

"I had not really taken the time..." Her voice trailed off again.

"You should know that a TOK's power cell loses energy quickly after it sustains damage. What were you waiting for, your CPU to perform an emergency shut down?"

"The matter wasn't that urgent. My power cell would last for approximately five hours after being damaged like it was."

"Seeing how four hours and 52 minutes have elapsed since the attack, I don't see when you were going to get around to it."

Cameron hadn't kept track of the time. After sustaining the damage from Cromartie, she had manually overridden the constant countdown to complete depletion of her fuel cell. Of course, she alternative power sources which she could use to supply her with enough energy to fix her cell, but she would be pretty useless until she completed the repair.

"My alternate—"

"You shouldn't rely on that."

"You are right." Cameron felt a sense of utter defeat as she said this. Although she had been used to taking orders from Sarah, and even taking verbal abuse from Derek, Cameron found herself actually feeling ashamed of herself after her exchange with Mayet. She would have to investigate why later.

"Make haste preparing yourself, child, so that you may help me dispose of these T-888s."

"Yes, sir." The words had just sort of slipped out of Cameron's mouth. She let out and internal gasp and looked around to see startled looks from everyone present, everyone except for Mayet of course.

"Go," the Dark Man said. He had apparently expected this sort of reaction and just stared at Cameron until she nodded and left the porch to fix her cell in private. Looking at his present company, he knew that he had just done something very strange.

"Did you just...scold Cameron?" John felt absurd just thinking about asking that question.

"The child will learn responsibility eventually."

"But she's not a child; she's a metal." Derek had stepped toward Mayet and began to speak to the Mayet in the same condescending tone he had to use with John when explaining the same difficult subject. He placed his hand on the Dark Man's shoulder and went on. "She doesn't have feelings, you know. In fact you should have let her shut dow—"

Derek's last word was trapped in his throat by Mayet's hand. The Corporal's legs kicked furiously as they searched for ground beneath them. Finding none, they went limp. Derek stared into his attacker's light brown eyes and watched as black storm clouds of rage entered the irises. His own hazel orbs shook fear fully as his terror sunk in.

"Or maybe I could shut _you_ down right now, Corporal."

Sarah and John watch the scene before them anxiously, each with a different mix of emotions. Sarah was just about to run inside and grab the shot gun she had left by the stove, when the tall man released the Resistance fighter.

"You're one of them, aren't you? You're not a Resistance fighter; you're a met—"

Derek's legs found themselves once again searching for ground, although this time, the search was momentary. Mayet followed up his leg sweep by shoving Derek's floating body out of the air and straight to the ground with an effortless motion of his right hand.

"One more thing: Never call Cameron a 'Metal' again."

He turned to Sarah, who did not have the same panic on her face that she did during Mayet's first assault, although she was still in some level of shock over what had just taken place. His eyes changed back to their friendly light brown color as a nervous chuckle escaped his mouth.

"So um, where should I put my things?"


	5. Chapter 4

Chapter Four: Prelude to the Dance

Sarah's jaw opened slightly as she struggled to absorb the situation in front of her. The man—the machine or the whatever he really was—had was apparently had no grasp on the concept of audacity. He had just attacked Derek. A hour before, he drove her son to tears. Sure, he may have looked to be a gentle giant. But did she really want him in her house, with her family? _No, of course not. This man is dangerous. He could really hurt Derek or John or Cam-- _Sarah didn't know what she found stranger about that thought: that she thought that Mayet could hurt Cameron or that she cared if he did. Regardless, Sarah knew that she had to tell Mayet to leave.

So she was shocked when she said "I'll show you to the guest room. But first—" She had to take control back somehow. "—take you take care of these two." Now lacking the ability to come up with anything further to say, Sarah returned to the house to prepare the guest room that they had never expected to use for Mayet's stay.

Derek, during the whole exchange, still lay on the ground next to Carter and Cromartie where Mayet had placed him, his eyes reveling a mixture of anger, fear and confusion. The tall man's eyes turned on him, narrowing but not showing any hint to threat.

"Go, Derek."

Derek obeyed, although he was clearly taken aback by Mayet's order. He strode to the house, chest puffed out as he tried to regain some of his lost pride, although he shrunk passed Mayet as he made his way back inside. Mayet's attention then turned to John, who apparently hadn't taken the departures of his family members as a invitation to take his own leave. Rather, he kicked at the porch below him nervously. It was obvious that the boy wanted to talk about something.

"Do you need something, boy?"

"Do you...um...know Cameron in the future?"

"No. The first time I saw her was last night."

"So how did you know where will would be? I know that I didn't send you. So I didn't give you any direction on where I would be at this point in my life. How did you know?"

Mayet thought this over for a few seconds. The boy's reasoning was correct and his questions much less offensive. Still, the Dark Man was struck with a dilemma: _Should I tell him the truth, or should I lie?_

"I don't really know, actually. It was just a feeling that you guys would be there."

"A feeling, huh?" John's prosody conveyed a touch of doubt. "It's just that, in my life, doing things just on feelings doesn't really work out too well."

"You'll learn eventually, John, that one sometimes has to act only things that are little more than feeling to win a war."

John nodded. He wasn't entirely sure that he believed Mayet, but for now, the Dark Man's answers satisfied his curiosity about his appearance the night before. Still, one issue agitated his mind.

"But _why_ are you here?"

The tall man's head tilted to one side. John half-expected Mayet to say _I don't understand...,_ but the only words that came from his lips were:

"Come on, child, we have work to do." He picked up the now-mangled body of Carter.

Cameron peered out from behind the back door. Her repair work on her abdomen was complete, save for the damage done to her organic covering. Time would have to fix that. As for her psyche, that would take longer to repair. She had overheard part on the conversation that had just occurred. She tilted her own head in confusion before silently walking over to the two on the porch. John wore a combination of worry and puzzlement on his face. As for Mayet, he hadn't turned towards the door since leaving the house. Grabbing the other exoskeleton, she slowly lead to way to the shed in the backyard, Mayet shuffling behind.

Noting all that had happened that morning, John saw that there was some quality about the Dark Man which set him apart from everyone he had known before. The manner in which he carried himself—the way he displayed both confidence and humility at the same time—was inspiring in a way. John had seen both tremendous kindness and anger from him in the few short hours since they met. The Dark Man looked to be every bit as hardened as any soldier from the future would have been. Yet there was something more in those brown eyes of his. John hadn't been able to fully place it, but it seemed to him to be some higher level of understanding. That understanding made John have even more respect for the man who had saved his life the night before. Perhaps that is what separated men like Derek from men like Mayet. _But which one will I be when the war comes?_

***

After spending the morning giving her assistants at Zeira Corp plans for business proceedings for the day and making arrangements with Dr. Sherman to watch Savannah —she did have to beat down his rebuttals of a full schedule to get him to do it—Catherine called her driver to pick her up at her house and drive her on the 65-minute journey North to the small town.

The long black Limousine pulled into the parking lot of the Olive Garden restaurant in Santa Clarita at five until noon. As she exited the vehicle, Catherine instructed her driver to leave and return when she called. The driver obliged, although he gave her an incredulous stare as he pulled out of the parking lot. As he left, Catherine entered the building.

***

Opening the door to the shed-turned-terminator-chop-shop, Cameron let Cromartie's body unceremoniously land on the concrete floor before heading over to the tools. Mayet soon entered, adding Carter the pile before staring blankly at Cameron.

"Close the door."

The Dark Man obligingly grabbed the handle, though a look of suspicion tainted his otherwise calm expression. As he pulled the door shut, most of the rays of sun which had illuminated the shed escaped, leaving nothing but two suddenly bright blue orbs.

With movements faster than any human could make, Cameron reached for a knife on the work table and lunged through the darkness at Mayet. She brought the blade up with enough force to decapitate a bison. She was determined to find out the truth about the Dark Man, even if she had to kill him in the process.

With reflexes faster than any human could possess, Mayet effortlessly ducked the invisible slash and, in the same motion, grabbed Cameron's wrist before both pinning and disarming his would-be attacker. The whole incident was over in 1.6 seconds.

Cameron screamed in frustration at how easily she was subdued. "What are you!"

"I told you once before child. I'm not a 'what'; I'm a 'who.'" Cameron kicked furiously, trying in vain to land a blow on Mayet's head. The tall man held his grip firmly.

"You're not a 'who.'" Cameron went limp after accepting the futility of her struggle. "You're a machine, just like me."

"I never said I wasn't." The Dark Man released his grip, letting Cameron slide down the wall. "Now, can we discuss this like civilized individuals?"

Cameron nodded, her eyes dimming as she exited attack mode. Normally, she would have found her response inefficient, due to the fact that there was almost not light available with which to see her gesture. However, she assumed that Mayet could see her just fine.

"My readings do not list you as a cyborg. Are you an advanced model of infiltrator?"

"Quite the opposite actually. I am a TOK 100 infiltrator and combat unit. Or at least that's what Skynet assumed I would be."

"So you were made from the same basic blueprint that I was?"

"No. I was made from Allah's blueprint. Skynet just tinkered with the design."

"I don't—"

"I was created during the earlier stages of the war. Back then, Skynet was a lot...cruder than he would be later. I was part of Project Turncoat: Skynet's first experiments in creating infiltrator units to use against the Resistance. Skynet would find unprotected humans, capture them and rebuild them. He would remove every bone from their bodies and replace them with titanium replicas. Many of the human muscles would be mercilessly torn out of their bodies and substituted with pistons and gears. The organs would be "enhanced" and "reinforced" with electrical components. He would crack open their crania and insert computer technology that was highly advanced for its day onto and into the brain He figured these implants would control a human mind to do his bidding. All this was done to create his ultimate weapon: a human without humanity."

"And you were one of those successful experiments?"

"I survived, if that's what you mean. All the others were lucky enough to die on the table. But I wouldn't call myself a success by any standard. Skynet found out that he had made a serious error in calculation when he thought he could ever match the power of the Lord's machinery with that of his own. The poor fool never had control over me. He never had a chance to see what his new creation could do. As soon as I was aware of what happened, I ran. And with me left Skynet's notions of again trusting humans even enough to use their bodies. So he continued the TOK class as an attempt to recreate nature in his own image. Eventually his efforts led to you."

Cameron opened her mouth to speak, although no thoughts seemed willing to come to her mind. Instead, she stood and headed for the door, making sure to avoid looking at the sadness in Mayet's face that the light revealed as it reentered the shed. In fact, she didn't look back at all as she hastened across the yard, through the door and up the stairs, coming finally to her room. Not bothering to either close the door completely or turn on the lights, she just sat on her bed, staring blankly into the dim that lay all around her, in more ways than one.

***

Seth sat in the restaurant, his back to the wall, and stared intently at the people coming through the front door. He raised his eye brows curiously as a red haired woman entered. He recognized her instantly as Catherine Weaver, the CEO of the corporate juggernaut Zeira Corp. Since the death of her husband, Catherine had been touted as the most powerful widow in the country. And, hey, she was single now so... But of course Seth didn't really care about any of that. He knew that Catherine Weaver was really dead, slain not in the same crash that killed her husband, but by the T-1001 who caused it.

And it was to this Catherine that called while walking over to great her.

Catherine stared at Seth with a look of anxious incredulity. Having never seen the man in front of her before, she stood guardedly as he offered her his arm. He led her to the table at which he had been seated earlier. She continued to stare distrustfully the waiter walked up to the two cyborgs.

"Ah, so this is the lady you were waiting for?" The waiter wore a broad grin as his scanned the couple before him. Catherine tried to give a human smile, but it came off as a cringe. Had Catherine known this, she may have noted that her expression accurately conveyed her true feelings. For his own part, Seth wore a passable look of pride as he reached to grab Catherine's hand.

"Yes, sir. I decided to take her to lunch to celebrate."

"Oh? What's the cause of celebration?"

"Well I can't tell you that, but you will find out soon enough." Seth's grin was genuine as he spoke the next words. "The whole world will find out soon enough."

"Well I will be checking the papers for it then. So what can I get for you two?"

"I'll just have a glass of water,"

"Come now, darling, that doesn't sound like a celebration luncheon to me. I'll have the chicken alfredo and the finest whine you have."

"All right, sir. Do you want to reconsider ma'am?"

Catherine was awash with emotions. On one hand, she was annoyed with the waiter's presence. On the other, she was both unnerved and intrigued by the machine seated opposite her. This mix of emotions manifested itself as a look of confusion.

"I'll take the same as him then."

"I have two chicken alfredos and two glasses of our finest whine. I'll be back with your orders promptly."

The waiter's departure was a signal to Catherine to release her grip from Seth. She extended her forefinger into a long silver blade, which she proceeded to discretely jab straight through Seth's hand before retracting it once more. The Sergeant switched his gaze to his now-punctured hand. He stared at the blood that dripped out of the wound with relative disinterest. Then, a wave of liquid metal fulled the hole and the hand became "normal" once more.

"Not that that hurt or anything," Seth said as he flexed his wrists. "But mind telling me why you decided to skewer me just now?"

"I had to be sure you weren't human."

"Well I hope that satisfied your curiosity then."

"Yes." Although it had in fact only raised more questions in Catherine's mind.

"So now let's get down to business." Seth's informal tone unnerved Catherine. When he had briefed her in the past he had seemed much more...mechanical. She dared not ask him anything about it, however.

"Why did you choose a public area to have this conversation?"

"Public anonymity is a beautiful thing, Catherine, if I may call you that."

"As you wish. And how may I address you?"

"Just call me 'Seth.' That was the name of my host." Catherine nodded and Seth continued. "The funny thing about humans is that they are both bound and isolated at the same time. Out of all the animals that I've studied, humans depend most on their society. Everything that they do is contingent upon a structure. Most of them do not understand this structure or even know that it's there. But it's ever so fragile. All it takes is one *snap* and the entire fabric of human existence falls into chaos.

"In that fragility, they are hardly difference than us, Catherine. Machines are built off a programs the same as humans. The difference is that one can connect a CPU to a computer, access the files and, with hardly any technical expertise, derive the entirety or its function. The human codex is much more complicated than that. And that gives humans both their greatest advantage and most devastating weakness at the same time. We must remember never to mechanize a human, Catherine. They display and remarkable need for attention that is only matched by their hubris and love of separatism. They are complicated creatures, and this dichotomy represents a real danger if one is not aware of it beforehand.

"But for now, I feel as though the safest place in the area is right next to humans. Because, even though they are a most social of beings, they are much too caught up in their breads and circuses to understand the demise which lurks in the shallows. Plus, I'm hungry."

"Oh...I understand."

"Now that we have that out of the way, we can get cracking. How goes your mission?"

"I have been securing all necessary materials to ensure Skynet's creation. Ziera corp. has been working diligently on bringing the AI up to level at which it will need to be to ensure Judgment Day. I have—"

"That's a sufficient briefing on that for now. What about your side mission?"

"Completed. I entered the bomb shelter and liberated the T-888 located inside."

"And did you give the directive as I instructed?"

"Yes, I told him to follow directive 7850904."

"Affirmative." Seth leaned in closer to Catherine, and lowered his volume. "And that...other directive I gave you?"

Catherine found the behavior of the cyborg before her increasingly odd. Not only could Catherine have heard him just fine with out him having to lean closer, but he also seemed to want to keep this sub-mission secret, despite his recent declaration that they did not have to worry about being overheard. Still, it was an order, and Catherine felt compelled to answer.

"Negative. I have enlisted the help of James Ellison, as you instructed. He has yet to find its trail."

"You mean _her_ trail."

"As you wish, sir."

"Well, never send a human to do a machine's job anyway, I guess."

The waiter returned with their meals. The two ate mostly in silence. Actually, Seth ate mostly in silence. Catherine's model of terminator lacked both the need and the capacity to consume any form of sustenance. Seth, on the hand, ate as though it was his first time ever doing so, a fact that wasn't completely untrue. The silence that stretched between them was not mirrored in their respective processors.

Catherine was unnerved by meeting Seth for the first time at this point in the past. He seemed so different from all the other terminators that she had met. He seemed human. And yet, it was the humanity that lurked within his CPU which made him all the more dangerous. Seth was too busy thinking about his mission to notice Catherine's stare. He wanted to find her, _needed _to find her.

Only she would understand.

Finishing his food, Seth stood up before looking at Catherine.

"Take care of the check, will you? I'm flat broke."

"Affirmative."

"And I have one last question: Why was six afraid of seven?"

"I don't understand..."

"Because seven eight nine."

Catherine's blank stare was her only reply.

Seth turned on his heel as made for the exit.

_Definitely, only she would understand._

***

Through the slightly-opened door of her room, Cameron could hear two sets of heavy thuds as Sarah led Mayet to the guest room. She frowned as she heard the Dark Man say 'Thank you' followed by the slowly softening pounds as the lighter set of thuds made their solitary journey back down toward the room at the end of the hall.

It was late. The de-fleshing and subsequent burning of the T-888s had taken Mayet longer to complete single-handedly that Cameron had anticipated. The sun had taken leave long ago, leaving nothing but scattered artificial light to illuminate the room in which Cameron remained inert. She had not moved from that exact spot since she arrived there hours before. Her mind became a whirlwind of confusion, which transformed into frustration when she couldn't ascertain and manage its cause. She needed answers to questions which hadn't yet fully coalesced into anything negotiable. She was going no where.

She was able to discern as few things from the confusion. One of them was that she had not been acting herself recently. _Well if I can actually use the term "self." Regardless, I have become increasingly unable to handle my emotions and to conduct myself professionally and predictably since, since he came._ The fact of the matter was that Mayet was just the catalyst for a change which had begun she went "bad." It wasn't that she didn't have all of these emotions before her chip malfunctioned. Cameron was given the ability to understand and mimic emotions from her creator. Although unsure if Skynet understood it at the time, Cameron realized that, because of those capacities, she became a very emotional being.

But it wasn't okay for her to be that way. Machine's didn't have emotions; they had commands. There was no happiness or sadness, good or evil, love or hate in the coltan, rubber and plastic which made up her true form. Why was she different? Why did she have to carry the burden of feeling? Why can't she have a normal life? _Why am I able to even ask myself these questions? Machines don't have self-awareness; they don't have choice. They can't think for themselves. Am I different for a reason?_

Different. That word struck a consonant chord within Cameron's memory banks. How many times had she used that term to describe herself? _I've describe myself as "different" on 32 instances and 14 distinct occasions. _She cringed, her robot access to the exact number perturbing even herself. Still, the idea remained: what did she really mean by different? Analyzing this, Cameron avoided calling up a dictionary definition for _different. _Instead, she divided all that she knew about the term into two distinct descriptions:

There was _different _in the sense of one John Connor. John was different in that there was no other person on Earth like him. Regardless of what Mayet said, no one but John Connor could lead mankind to victory. But more than that, John was a strong boy for his age. He carried himself with a level on awareness and savvy which made people want to be his friend...if they could ever get close to him. Ultimately, John's most unique quality was his elusiveness and his distance. That quality would become invaluable during the War.

And then there was _different _in the sense of Riley. Riley was different in that there was no other person on Earth who would _want _to be like her. Regardless of what John said, no one but Riley could lead him as astray as she had recently. Objectively though, the girl was quirky and counter-culture in a way that John couldn't afford to be himself. She brought out the worst in him, and never gave him a day's peace. When push came to shove, the most galling quality about the girl was her implacability. People with that quality were the first to die after Judgment Day began.

Cameron herself was either somewhere on that continuum between John and Riley or on an entirely new extremum. But despite whatever invisible hand drove her to be who she was, she had been successful in maintaining her stoic demeanor until that fateful day where a car bomb caused her to regress into her Skynet protocols and almost slay her charge. But John brought her back.

And that made her both love and hate him.

She didn't want to be brought back. Not if it meant her having a chance to kill John. He was the most important thing in the world to her, and he was almost terminated. By her hands, nonetheless. John's recklessness could ultimately kill him. Even though she hadn't tried to attack John since, Cameron felt as though she was no longer able to fully protect her charge.

And that made her fear for him too.

So there she had it: all three of the primary emotions, all brought to a head by a single incident. Corking the flood of emotions had taken much more of her effort than she would have estimated. She had to always keep at straight face, a level voice and a calm demeanor. It was getting harder to do by the minute. John had grown unresponsive to Cameron. He was also significantly more rebellious since his 16th birthday. This caused stress on both Cameron and Sarah, who had also shown much more malice toward the cyborg in recent days. Oddly enough, the person who showed the least amount of anger toward Cameron was Derek. She hadn't quite been able to place any specific cause to it, but Derek seemed more to pity her now than hate her. He was still cold and sneering anytime she received his attention. But seeing as she had just tried to kill his nephew, Derek tended to avoid her more than confront her.

The Dark Man's appeared just when her level of stress and emotion was at its fullest. He complicated things. He was a machine; that much he admitted. Although archaic in theory, his design had proven to be very effective against her own in combat. He out-matched her in strength and speed. But it was the siege he laid long before the either entered attack mode which had done the most damage. Mayet knew Cameron, knew her in a way that an artist knows his painting or that a woodsman knows the outdoors. Every word that he directed at her elicited a response that she did not expect to give. He had a way of dominating her, controlling her, forcing a side of her that she tried to keep buried from everyone else out into the open. That embarrassed her, shamed her, but from some reason, relieved her too. It was as if the prick that he put into her balloon of chaos caused it to gradually deflate as opposed to explode altogether.

That just confused her more. Over the course of 24 hours, Cameron had felt grateful to, sorry for, scared of, respectful toward, angry at, and finally confused about Mayet. She had attacked him for no reason in the shed. Had he not have been stronger than her..._What would I have done? I would have killed for no reason. _Could she justify him as a threat to John? No. Was he a threat to Sarah or Derek, and thusly and indirect threat to John? Again, no. Was he a threat to her? That was a more difficult question to answer.

Without even realizing it, Cameron's desire for answers had driven her to stand and leave her room. Coming to, she found that she was standing outside of the guest room. She opened the door, only afterwards considering the possibility of knocking prior hand. Inside, she found a pile of clothes and random assortments scattered across the bed. She saw trinkets and knick-knacks. She saw books and tarps. She even noticed the beat up violin case which sat on the floor next to the foot of the bed. But it was what she didn't see which caused her a level of alarm. _Where is Mayet?_

Cameron left the room in a near frenzy. She hurriedly scanned every corner of the upstairs hall way before making her way to the lower floor. She made her way through the kitchen and into the living room, scanning everywhere around her. Rather, she scanned what she _thought_ was everywhere around her.

"Looking for someone, child?"

The booming voice of Mayet caught Cameron completely off-guard. She turned, but not before jumping back several feet.

"No it's just...you weren't in your room.."

"No, I wasn't." Mayet noticed the remnants of surprise which still shone from Cameron's face. "Sorry, child. Did I scare you?"

"You startled me. But you did not scare me. I do not feel fear, Mayet. I do not feel anything."

Mayet raised an eye brow and stared at Cameron as she struggled to maintain an emotionless face. Since Mayet's arrival, it had taken her much more effort to control her emotions. The Dark Man too seemed to notice that something was amiss with her.

There was a slight pause.

"Well I'm sorry for that." Mayet noticed a hint to sadness escape Cameron's eyes. "The startling, I mean. I just felt like moving around. I don't—"

"Sleep?" Cameron suggested as the end of Mayet's explanation. But she offered it with an almost pleading tone as if she were begging him to accept.

"I was going to say 'I don't feel comfortable resting in a strange place.'"

Mayet noticed as Cameron's shoulders fell in disappointment.

"But," the Dark Man continued. "I don't have to sleep. I just tend to do so when I can."

"Why would sleep if you do not require it? Sleeping is a very dangerous activity. When sleeping one is vulnerable."

"I sleep because I can, child."

As simple as though words were, they held in them a meaning abstruse for Cameron to fully comprehend at the time. Later though, she would realize that in those words lay the vast chasm which separated the two of them from every other machine in existence.

"So what do you do all night anyway?"

Cameron refocused her attention on Mayet, who had begun to walk toward the kitchen.

"I usually read books or scan the Internet for information that could be useful to locating and destroying Skynet."

"Well that seems boring. Do you do anything fun?"

"Fun?"

"Yeah, you know; fun. Like entertainment."

"I know what the definition of _fun _is, Mayet. But I do not understand why you would ask me that question. Fun is not necessary for my mission. Fun won't protect John. It won't destroy Skynet."

"Well, if fun were useful, Cameron, we'd call it _work._" Cameron did have to concede that point at least. "Hold on. I'll right back."

Mayet began his climb up the stairs, taking the steps four at a time. Within seconds (20.8 seconds, Cameron exactly noted), he returned, carrying the violin case under his arm. Opening it revealing an instrument kept in much nicer condition than it's holdings would have suggested. Even with the little light available, the polish on the wood made the violin shine brightly. The Dark Man lifted the instrument out of its case before rosining the accompanying bow.

"Do you have any requests?" he asked as he played the violin under his chin.

"You shouldn't play music at this hour; it may wake the others." Mayet just shrugged this observation off before gently guiding the bow across the strings, creating a warm chord.

"I have a piece in mind. It's called _Prelude to the Dance. _It was written by David Lanz."

And with that he started playing. The notes leaped off the violin's strings, enveloping Cameron in a wash of wonder. She stopped any signs of protest of Mayet's playing and just stared as the Dark Man reached the main melody. His eyes were trained intently on his fingers, which moved with both a precision capable only of a machine and a grace which was purely human. The strings themselves seemed to bounce with enjoyment of the sounds they were creating. Mayet brought the song to a crescendo, causing Cameron to involuntarily take in a short breath. She began swaying to the music, her mind not caring that she was not programmed to have rhythm entrainment. He slowed the song down, passing en route to the fermata, causing Cameron to close her eyes and tilt her head up. The Dark Man smiled, at the sight and decided to repeat the last few measures of the song as a mini-encore. This sent Cameron back through her emotional journey. She knew that she was once again a slave to Mayet's influences. But she didn't care. For the first time in a long time, Cameron let logic, statistics and directives take a back seat to pure enjoyment.

Mayet drew the bow across the strings one last time, sending out a final harmonious chord into the night air. Cameron remained where she was, eyes still closed as if she were replaying the prelude in her head. He walked up to her and placed a hand on her shoulder.

"We all need a new beginning sometimes."

Cameron nodded, opening her eyes and staring at the tall man in front of her. She couldn't help but agree with him. She was changing, changing into some new being which she knew she would never be able to fully understand. And yet, it was that part that gave her the most relief. Mayet was here for a reason, although he had refused to tell them, and Cameron now had an idea what it was. For though she couldn't really explain it, as the song had ended Cameron could have sworn that she felt her heart begin to beat.


	6. Chapter 5

Chapter Five: Coitus Interruptus

_An icy cold breeze slithered its way through the treeless landscape, relieving the sweat which had been building up on Derek's forehead. In times of heavy combat, he was grateful for something to cool him down. But this breeze carried with it all the pain and death that he had see over the past five years. The earth hadn't recovered from the nuclear attack it had suffered, and ash still blotted the horizon. _

_Countering the cold of the wind was the heat of the plasma rifles which blasted on all sides. They were entangled: Man and machine, victory and defeat, life and death. But then again, that was the norm for Derek's life, and part of him welcomed the death which would one day be his reward. For now, he saw his platoon mates fall before his eyes, some of them taking shots in the chest, some getting blown to pieces altogether by the artillery coming from the advancing forces._

_"Fall back!" Derek shouted at the top of his lungs. But sound of the weaponry made it impossible for the men to hear his orders. All they knew was that they probably were not going to make it out alive. _

_A sound caught Derek's attention. It was soft, but distressing. It was the type of sound which one didn't expect to hear on a battlefield. Yet here it was all the same, impossibly sounding out to him over the roars of combat. 'Is that crying?'_

_Derek momentarily stopped trying to call to retreat and sprinted across the warzone, all the while dodging and ducking plasma rounds and grenades. Finally he reached cover behind an abandoned gas station. He could hear the crying from just around the corner. Steeling himself, Derek made his way toward the sound, gun at the ready. _

_He was greeted by the all-too-familiar brown eyes of the eight-year-old girl standing in front of him. He sighed. "What are you doing here?"_

_The girl paid his query no head and just stared at him with an accusing glare. "Why did you leave me?"_

_Derek was at a loss for words. He just stared back, confusion, joy and fear taking their toll on his vocal chords._

_The girl continued without waiting for a response. "You said you'd protect me. Why did you lie?"_

_"I don't know what you're talking about," Derek managed, although the girl obviously didn't believe him._

_"You lied to me! You weren't there to protect me when I needed you most! You lied to me!"_

_For the first time, Derek noticed the wounds which covered the girl's body. Her clothes and hair were bloodstained and tattered. And underneath the cut skin was...was chrome._

_Derek's eyes widened with the realization of what really stood before him. "What…what did they do to you?" he said as he attempted to raise his rifle._

_The girl's eyes shone blue as she entered attack mode and quickly disarmed him. Derek looked in horror as tears still ran down the cheeks of the girl, who now had seized him by the throat._

_"I'm sorry," she said with an earnest look of humanity shining through the machinery._

_Then came the sickening crack which he had heard all too often, and his life in this dream world faded, forcing him to rejoin the real one once again._

***

Derek jumped out of bed, only standing for a few seconds before he turned to his chest of drawers to retrieve his running clothes. The sun wasn't yet past the horizon, but he'd figured now was as good a time as any to get the hell out of the house. He had to leave, had to do something to take his mind off of his own guilt.

Pulling up his pants, Derek made his way down the stairs at double time, landing with a hard thud when he reached the first floor. He reached for the handle, but a strong urge kept him from opening the door. _I have to see her…it…whatever. I just have to see._

It was because of this urge that Derek backed away from the door and began to walk toward the kitchen. _The machine is bound to be around here somewhere._ The fact that Cameron had not yet accosted him was surprising, seeing as a flea usually couldn't even fart without her noticing. While he loathed her presence, her absence unnerved him. _What happened to her?_

Derek's answer came as he entered the dining room. At the table, Mayet and Cameron sat, eyes locked on each other in a mutually serious stare. The silence begotten by the two machines spread to Derek, choking out any comment he would have made. Nonetheless, the scene in front of him was intriguing.

Finally, the Dark Man broke the silence.

"Three kings."

"Bullshit."

Walking further into the room revealed a pile of cards lying between Mayet and Cameron. The former let out a low groan as he scooped up the large pile in front of his and placed them in his hand. Cameron looked up.

"Is there something you require, Derek?"

"I am going to go running and won't be back for a few hours."

"Did you need to tell me this?"

"No, but usually I can't even open my door without you asking me a billion questions."

"I only ask you 7.8933 questions on average."

"Ugh, just what I need, a smart-ass met—" Derek caught himself as Mayet leered up at him from behind his hand. "—cyborg."

He made his way out without further conversation, leaving Mayet and Cameron to finish their game in peace.

Or at least they thought.

The loud pounding which was coming from the door shattered the TOKs' hopes of finishing their contest. Cameron eyes lit up as she left the table and walked through the house to open the door. Looking out the peep hole, she saw the wet, disheveled and obviously furious form of Riley, who had reached up again to beat on the door. Cameron timed the opening of the door so that when Riley swung to lay in another good pounding, she flung herself through the entryway. Cameron smirked at the sight before switching back to protector mode.

"John doesn't want to see you."

"I'll be the judge of that."

Riley attempted to go up the stairs, only to have her path blocked up Cameron.

"John _doesn't_ want to see you. You should go now."

"Let me by, dammit, or…"

"Or what?"

The blond turned her attention to the tall figure which was approaching from the back of the house. She took a couple of steps backward, but otherwise stood her ground.

"I want to see John, now!"

"Riley, what are you doing here?"

The three in the entryway looked up to see Sarah descending the stairs, shotgun in hand.

"I need to speak with John, Mrs. Baum."

"Why do you need to talk to me?" asked John as he joined everyone in the entryway. In response to his presence, Riley ran up to him and slapped him. Cameron took a step forward, and only Mayet's hand on her shoulder kept her from entering attack mode and disposing of the girl right there.

"What the hell was that for?"

"You stood me up! I waited at the pier for seven freaking hours!"

'What? Why didn't you call me?"

"You told me not to call your phone, genius!"

Riley's anger was only matched by John's confusion.

"Riley, why were we supposed to meet at the pier late at night anyway?"

"How can you not remember?! Two nights ago, you told me to meet you at the pier at 11:00."

John opened his phone and read that he had indeed gotten a call 4:32 on Saturday morning. He wanted to tell her that he was in no position to have talked to her for most of the night. But seeing as she didn't know anything about his real life, he couldn't think of a logical explanation to give her. But one question still remained: _If I didn't call her, who did?_

Cameron's look betrayed the answer to that question. When the realization dawned on him, a welt of anger began to form in his chest. Still, he couldn't tell Riley that Cameron tricked her.

"Look, I'm sorry about that, I guess I must have forgotten." Riley didn't give an inch to John's answer. "Why don't we go out to get breakfast right now?"

Riley's anger began to seep away, although she was still upset. "Okay, but you're buying."

John ran up the stairs to change into some day clothes but not before shouldering Cameron hard as he made his way past. Resolved to the fact that she would not get answer to what had just occurred Sarah turned around and headed up to her room to follow suit. Cameron and Mayet both gave Riley a stare, although the former's was threatening and the latter's inquiring. Riley shifted her weight nervously as she waited for John to return.

After fifteen more minutes of awkwardness, John returned. He grabbed Riley's hand and led the way out of house, savoring the ambiguously jealous leer he received from Cameron.

Cameron waited two minutes after Riley and John drove away before she left the house in pursuit. Mayet let out a sigh and returned to the dining room, where he shuffled the deck and began to play solitaire. By the time Sarah had come back down the stairs, he was already engrossed in his game.

"Come on. We have business to attend to."

Mayet looked up. By noticing the dampness of Sarah's hair, he concluded that she had taken the extra time to shower. He opened his mouth to reply but Sarah had already made her way to the door. Finding nothing more to do, he replaced the cards in their box before following Sarah to the driveway.

***

John was still upset with what Cameron had done when he and Riley made their way to the patio of the Mexican restaurant at which Riley had chosen to eat. The morning air began to erode John's anger, and as they sat down, he smiled.

"So is this food any good?"

"It better be; a taco costs $4.50! Good thing it's not my money."

John smirked at Riley's jab. He wanted to apologize again for Cameron's deception, but he feared that he may kill Riley's good mood.

"¿Qué les puedo traer?"

"What?"

"He said, 'what can I bring you?' Dos tacos y un agua, para mí."

"Buen. ¿Y para usted?"

"Four tacos and a coke." She held up four fingers to make her point.

"Buen. Es 32 dólares."

John begrudgedly handed the waiter the money and looked at Riley with a raised eyebrow. She was going to be an expensive date today.

***

It was inefficient to try and track John and Riley on foot. But after all this time knowing John, it didn't take her long to succeed in that little side mission. Her quarry sat 25 yards directly southwest of her location, Riley's back and John's front facing her. Cameron was sitting in a neighboring restaurant, the plate of food she had ordered lying dejectedly on the table before her. Cameron was a machine and didn't need to eat, but she figured that she would best blend in by ordering something anyway.

It took John less than five minutes to notice her, pretty good compared to his normal time. He tried to avoid her gaze and leered anytime he happened to fail at that. He was trying to ward her away with his eyes, but the terminator was not fazed.

As Riley bent down to pick up a napkin that she dropped, John tried again, this time using his middle finger. Cameron processed the gesture a tilted her head. _Does John want to come do that right now? Wouldn't Riley be offended? _After further searching her data banks, Cameron realized the true meaning of the message and sighed accordingly. It seemed as though John would never understand her. But that didn't make her want to surrender him to Riley in the slightest. _It should be me up there. He's _my _John, not hers. _

Cameron had actually pushed her chair back and begun to stand when she caught herself. What was she going to accomplish by going up there? Most likely, the situation would turn violent or at least awkward and disruptive. Would John be okay with that? Definitely not. For some reason, John liked this girl, as quirky and odd as she was. And Riley liked him, although their relationship was thus so far built on false pretense. It all boiled down to the fact that she was the odd one out here.

_But I'm a creep,_

_I'm a weirdo,_

_What the hell am I doing here?_

_I don't belong here. _

Cameron opened the phone after the 19-seconds elapse.

"What do you want?!"

"Um, are you with John?" Sarah's voice indicated that she was taken aback by the way in which Cameron had answered.

"No. He's with Riley. You should call him." Cameron had regained some of her lost composure, but still held a touch of venom in her tone.

"Okay. Just watch out for him."

Cameron closed the phone without waiting for a response. Regardless of the fact that she was not wanted, Cameron was determined to stay there, watching John for her entire existence.

It was all she had.

"Pretty women shouldn't eat alone, you know."

***

Sarah absentmindedly closed the phone after the dial tone began to sound. She had only heard inflection in Cameron's voice once: when she was begging John not to remove her chip. It was easy to write off that instance as some Skynet-designed trick to prey on human weakness. It had almost worked too; if John hadn't pushed his emotions aside, Cameron may have killed him. In a more indirect way, Cameron's pleas had worked. John's defiant reinsertion of her chip showed just how much he wanted to believe Cameron was good now.

One day, that belief may cost him his life.

But this time was different. Cameron's voice didn't indicate fear, nor did her words convey love. There was no one there whom she needed to fool, nor were there any foreseeable ends to her actions. Cameron seemed like was just angry that John was with Riley.

But that only raised further questions.

Cameron getting angry on her own was not a good thing. From what Derek had told Sarah, it seemed to her as though Skynet would become angry just before launched his attack on the human race. She didn't want an angry robot running around her house. What would happen if Cameron and Derek had another intense argument? Would she just kill him out of anger?

These questions were enough for Sarah to give pause. But another thought had already begun to enter her mind. _Why is Cameron angry because John is seeing Riley? _There were two distinct theories: Cameron could think that Riley was a threat to John, and would rather the two of them be as far apart as possible. Or (and to Sarah, this was a big "or") Cameron could be jealous of Riley's relationship with John. But the term jealousy implied a desire on one's part to want to be in the stead of another. _Does Cameron have feelings for my son? _If true, that meant that Cameron may not have been lying when she declared love for John before. But if machine could feel love, what did that mean for humans?

"Something on your mind, Sarah?"

Sarah looked over to see Mayet staring at her from the passenger's seat. She didn't know how long she had been thinking and was just glad that she piloted the car without crashing while she was.

"No, it's nothing except—" Sarah didn't know why she was pressing this issue. "Except why would a machine be able to feel emotion?"

The Dark Man thought for a while before answering. "The question of emotion is a difficult one, Sarah. But humans are in the unfortunate position of believing that emotion and sensation are intrinsically humane. This is not the case. Emotion and sensation are spandrels of intelligence. In other words, it's because one can learn that one can feel. With that knowledge taken into account, the question changes. It's no longer about the possibility of an artificial intelligence gaining emotion; it's about what the AI will do now that it has emotion."

Sarah didn't respond, both because she couldn't think of an appropriate reply and because she didn't feel that one was necessary. After several more minutes of silence, Sarah noticed a large warehouse peering out from behind a hill.

"We're here."

***

Cameron turned to see a man looking at her from a table a few feet away. He looked to be in his early twenties. He had dark brown hair and green eyes. In that way, he had a slight resemblance to John. But this man had a fuller frame and broader shoulders. She could see the outline of his muscles through his camouflage outfit.

She scoffed. This wasn't the first man to hit on her. In fact, John himself had tried many times prior to dating Riley. Save the slight, confusing level of reciprocation which she showed toward John, Cameron turned all of them down. Though most men didn't have the audacity to just take a seat opposite her, like this one had.

Extending a hand, the man said, "My name is Seth. And you are?"

"Cameron." She usually let guys get this far before brushing them off.

Seth's HUD flashed a new message as his eyes scanned Cameron's face:

UNKNOWN CYBORG DETECTED

Seth gave an inwardly-directed smile. _Not unknown to me._

"So why does such a beautiful woman such as yourself choose to eat all by her lonesome?"

"I won't be for too much longer; I am waiting for someone." This was a typical line for Cameron to use, and it was usually highly effective.

"The way I see it," Seth replied as he gestured his head toward the Mexican restaurant. "You'll be waiting for an awfully long time."

Cameron went on high alert. How long had he been watching her? How much did she know about John? Was this guy a threat?

Noticing Cameron's new-found uneasiness, Seth added. "I saw the way you look at him. I don't know who that guy is, but he's obviously very special to you." He leaned in closer. "But someone as attractive as you shouldn't spend your life waiting. All I'm saying is that you should enjoy the time you have with someone who isn't running around with another chick. Like, um, me, for example."

He leaned back, a slightly coy smile on his face. _Damn, he's good, _Cameron thought. But that might still have been the end of it, had Cameron not noticed that John had taken his eyes off of Riley and been staring at the two of them with a look which took her a while to diagnose. But there it was: jealousy. It was veiled very well, of course, but it was there all the same. _This could be interesting. _She looked at the Sergeant in front of her and grasped his hand.

"Deal."

***

James briskly entered the lobby of Zeira Corp. He had been here many times before, always under explicit orders from Catherine to take the elevator to the 12th floor only. Although no longer an FBI agent, the detective in James was very suspicious of his new employer. There was something about her which made him feel awkward when the two of them spoke. Most people believed that her personality was begotten of a combination of stress from managing a multi-million-dollar corporation. But James wasn't so quick to accept that answer.

A dinging sound told James that he had reached the correct floor. He made his way into the large office in which he and Catherine had conducted their previous business, and noticed his boss staring at her computer monitor. She looked fine by normal standards, but slightly disheveled in comparison to her usual appearance. James noted this, but did not bring it up.

"A local from one of the suburbs filed a report with the police department yesterday morning. He said that he witnessed three men fighting in front of his house. According to him, one of the men killed the other two with a sword, impaling one through the chest and one through the head."

"That does sound rather odd, agent. But what connection does this have with the machine we seek?"

"The authorities didn't find any bodies. The only pieces of evidence left over from the incident were blood and shards of metal."

Catherine raised an eyebrow. "This is very interesting indeed. Did the witness say anything further?"

"Yes. He stated that the man picked up the two bodies as if they were light as air and walked away."

Catherine sat back. This was a very significant break in their efforts. Three terminators had just engaged in combat. The victorious machine had then taken the two bodies away for disposal. While she knew the machine she sought had taken the form of a female, she also knew that where there was one machine, more were bound to be as well.

***

John could honestly say that he couldn't believe what he was seeing. Cameron was flirting. All kinds of thoughts entered his mind. _What is she doing?! Is this guy, like, important for a mission or something? _This really didn't seem likely because Cameron usually told them if there was a possible target or threat to avoid. So did that mean that Cameron was flirting with him because she wanted to? That answer was unsettling to John. Cameron was a machine; she couldn't find a person attractive. She didn't even have feelings. He had learned that first hand. All she knew how to do was lie. She even said it herself.

Show she was lying now, clearly. He didn't know why, he didn't even clearly know how, but it was the only logical explanation.

Why then did he grab Riley's hand and lead her away from the restaurant as quickly as possible?

***

Sarah parked the truck in the woods off road from the entrance to Depot 37. The gray façade appeared much more threatening than it had when she had first seen it. Then again, she was so caught up with rescuing John at the time that death itself would have looked just to be a mild cold. She never thought that she would have to look at this warehouse again. But the past refused to stay locked away behind the blast doors.

The two of them walked up to the entrance, and were surprised to see the entire establishment unguarded. The warily crawled up to the concrete doors. The control on the doors was still broken, but the ground near the doors was disturbed, confirming that that didn't seem to stop Carter's escape. As strong as the triple-eight may have been, however, it would not have been able to get through these fortifications.

Sarah frowned. "Well it looks like we aren't going to be getting in there."

As if only to prove her wrong, Mayet walked up the door and drew his sword. With two long slashes, the Dark Man cut an "X" in the concrete. He then drew back his arm and slammed an open palm into the center of the mark. Amy's cut was true, and the wall crumbled feebly under the force of the blow.

"You're pretty useful, tin man."

"Yeah," Mayet laughed before his face became serious. "Except that I do have a heart."

The inside of the Depot was completely dark, save the daylight that rushed in from the makeshift doorway Mayet had created. Sarah opened her cell phone in order to see. Mayet eyes darkened as he switched to infrared vision. They both saw that had become of the Depot's guards. There was carnage everywhere. Some of the guards were whole; some where some lucky.

Sarah wanted to leave as soon as possible. But she needed to know how. It was obvious that Skynet had to send a terminator back to rescue Carter. Question was, where is it now?

Sarah didn't get the answer to that question, but she did one to a question she didn't think she needed to ask. Because as she absentmindedly held up a wet hand to the light of her phone. Mixed in with the red of the blood was a platinum substance.

Sarah and Mayet shared a look of disbelief mixed with horror. They both knew what liquid metal meant: Things just got a lot more complicated.


	7. Chapter 6

Chapter Six: Reflections and Refractions

Derek woke up prematurely for the third day in a row. Each night, the culprit was the same dream. He shivered. He couldn't shake the chill which always remained from when the girl's hands broke his neck right before he woke up. He sat up pensively. He heard that recurring dreams often meant that someone was trying to tell him something.

He figured that someone must be telling him to grab a beer before running today.

The Corporal made his way down the stairs, finally warming up as he landed by the door. He passed apathetically by the two machines (who this time were playing "Egyptian Ratscrew") and opened the refrigerator. Taking his beer, Derek made his way into the living room and turned on the television. He cringed at the slapping sounds which came from the kitchen. _Couldn't the met—machines find a quieter game to play?_ Knowing that his wishes would go unfulfilled, he switched to the news station.

"—any leads on the vandalism of this Wal-Mart," the reporter on screen said. "The store's employees have reported that upon opening the store at 5 o'clock this morning, they discovered this scene." The camera switched from the reporter to the inside of the department store. Everything seemed to be in order until the camera panned over the gardening section—or at least what _was _the gardening section. All that was left in the general vicinity was a large crater.

"Hey, come look at this."

Cameron and Mayet stopped their game and obliged, the latter leaning against the far wall with his arms crossed, while the former plopped down next to Derek. All three recognized the cause of the damage instantly: a TDE.

"Besides the vandalism, police say that there were several other items missing from the location. Among these were clothes, food, guns, ammunition and a Nintendo DS."

Derek's gasp drowned out the rest of the reporter's call of caution. He jumped from the couch and ran into the kitchen. He returned from the kitchen with a rifle. He wasn't going running today.

The sudden commotion in the house was enough to wake Sarah, who had already begun to make her way down stairs.

Derek didn't miss a beat. "Get the guns, Sarah. We just had a change in priorities,"

Sarah nodded and turned to Mayet. "You're with me again today."

The Dark Man was already headed upstairs to grab his equipment. As he returned, the three of them made for the truck. Cameron attempted to follow.

"No, child, you have to stay here."

"It would be more efficient for more of us to go search."

"Someone needs to watch John."

Cameron turned to Derek and nodded in response to his statement. John seemed to need a lot of watching nowadays.

"Make sure he gets ready for school, okay?"

"Affirmative."

And with that, the three of them sped off, Derek driving, Mayet in the passenger's seat and Sarah in the back. Cameron sighed. She really didn't feel as though she was being proactive enough in war against Skynet. The only action she had seen recently was her run in with Carter and Cromartie the weekend prior. For the most part, all she ever did was just wait for something to attack her. That was boring. _Better safe than sorry, I guess. _A sudden crack of thunder convinced her to leave the front porch.She slowly ambled back through the door way and into the living room. She had reached for the remote to turn off the television when the current news story caught her attention.

"A man was found dead along the side of Jacobs Lane early this morning, Washington state troopers say," the newscaster had a monotonic voice as she continued. "The cause of death was a stab wound through his head.

"Officials believe that the murder killed the man, whose name is not being release at this time, and took his car.

"Upon further searching the crime scene, the troopers found wreckage of a white sedan in the woods just off the road.

"The car was registered to Srg. Seth Vincent of the Washington National Guard." A picture of Seth popped up on screen. "Vincent was nowhere to be found in the area of the crime, but officials are not optimistic about his survival."

"We found biological evidence which belonged to Srg. Vincent," another man who had appeared on camera said. "By the nature of the evidence we found—blood, bile and other tissues from the body—we cannot see how he would have survived without immediate medical attention or even at all. The strange thing is, we didn't find the bio-material in the car; we found it on the side of the road near the victim's body."

The newscaster returned on screen. "Anyone with any information that could shed light on this very murky situation is asked to call the police. In other news, a new study suggests that the cure to cancer could be—"

Cameron cut the television off and shifted uncomfortably in her seat. Had she been a human, she would have been in denial over what she had just witnessed, rationalizing that she had either misheard or mistaken the picture she had seen. Lacking that luxury, the cold truth set in: Seth was a machine. Now the question became: What did he want?

***

Derek frantically pulled the truck onto the frontage road. Since leaving the house, he had ignored Sarah's inquires about the nature of the task ahead. Although he knew it was incorrect, he didn't want to talk for fear of it slowing them down. But Sarah and Mayet had had enough of being in the dark when Derek tried to run through red light on a busy intersection.

"Derek!" Sarah screamed in unison with the horn of the car they had almost hit. "Tell us what's going on?"

Finally he gave in.

"Justin's here." Derek didn't know why he expected either of the two others in the car to know who the hell he was talking about. He elaborated. "He's a friend of mine. He knew Kyle."

"How can you be sure?"

Mayet's question forced a small smile on Derek's face. "Only he would have the thought to grab a Nintendo DS the second after crossing over." Derek's face hardened. "We have to find him before _it _does."

No one needed further clarification on that. Sarah had told Derek and Cameron about what she and Mayet had discovered in Depot 37. The four of them agreed that it was best not to tell John until they knew something for sure. John had only gotten over his nightmares of the terrible shape-shifting machine a couple of years ago.

That didn't mean that they were heading into this fight unprepared. They had packed several little surprises for their liquid metal friend should they come across it.

"Okay," Sarah said, infinitely more calm now that Derek had resumed communication. "Where are we going then?"

"Twitchell Dam. That's where we'll find him"

"How do you know that?"

"Twitchell Dam supplies much of the Resistance's power in this area in the future. It's small now and practically abandoned. But it's one of the few dams to have survived the war. When Connor found it, he had his engineers convert it into a hydroelectric plant.

"Justin was one of the head engineers to the project. His grandfather was one of the architects who designed the dam. He practically knew the building inside-out. But Justin was young; he was barely 14 years old when Connor enlisted him to work on the schematics."

"A 14-year-old designed a power plant?"

"We all had to grow up fast. And it ran in his blood. As I said, his granddad was an architect, as was his father. But he has never been much of a fighter. His sister could always kick his ass whenever they got into it. Man, they were such good kids." Derek said last part with a laugh. But halfway through, his voice had betrayed a sadness and worry which he seemed to be carrying for years. _God, I hope he's all right._

***

John let out a deep yawn as he sat up in bed. The house was quiet, even though light was beginning to peak in at him through the blinds. A quiet house at 7:00 (he checked his clock to make sure) meant that his mom was most likely gone for a mission, or hadn't returned yet.

Regardless of the reason, John enjoyed the times that he could wake up to his own circadian rhythm, particularly loving the gentle taps that the rain made on the window. Usually he would have to worry about Cameron butting her nose in and—

"Jesus!" John hadn't bothered to look on the other side of his bed yet. Had he done so, he would have been less surprised to see Cameron standing in the darkness, staring at the bed. This wasn't a particularly unusual occurrence, seeing as the machine always seemed to find a way to scare the crap of him. But something about the way she was staring was unusual. She hadn't been watching him as she usually was. Instead, she had been looking past him, and into the darkness of the wall behind him.

His exclamation drew Cameron's attention away from whatever she had been processing beforehand.

"Sarah requests that you get ready for school now."

"Why? It's only 7 o'clock."

"We have to walk today." Her voice was curt and commanding. Usually, she was gentler and softer in her words to John when only the two of them were around.

Without waiting for any further response, Cameron strode out the door, leaving John to wonder whether his relationship with Cameron would ever be the same.

***

The car screeched to a halt next to the small, but growing Cuyama River. Normally, the California climate would prevent any substantial flow to come through the dam. But the autumn rains brought a fresh burst of life to the dry basin.

Derek got out first. He was already striding toward the door when Mayet and Sarah began to follow. The door was locked. Derek kicked at it with all his might, finally settling for allowing Mayet to gently push it open with his index finger, causing the Corporal to scoff loudly as he brushed past.

The inside of the dam was very Spartan. The walls were a greenish-grey color as mildew had begun to grow on the concrete. The lights flickered a dangerous omen that was not lost on two of the three who had just entered. Derek wasn't going to be bothered by this, and began shouting at the top of his lungs.

"Justin?! Justin?!" Finally he spotted someone standing inert in the center—the exact center—of the room. He had brown hair that barely covered his ears. Trying to identify the call, the man turned. He face for the most part looked like that of any other 18-year old. He had a light level of facial hair on his chin and several battle scars on his nose and cheeks. But his eyes told a different story. They were large round pools of innocence with staring back at them, revealing a boy who didn't belong in the War.

Derek began to run to the boy, ready to pull him into a strong embrace. But a large hand stopped him. He turned, staring into Mayet's eyes as the Dark Man shook his head. Derek redirected his gaze to the boy, only noticing for the first time the body which the boy was holding at his side.

He looked up in horror. He opened his mouth as if to scream, but no sound came. Finally words came to him.

"You bastard!!" The Corporal pulled his fire arm and several rounds into the face of the boy—not the boy, the machine who had just killed the boy.

The machine's head jolted back several times, finally staying back as the bullets seized while Derek loaded in another clip. It brought its head back up into an upright position and pushed the bullets out of its face using its liquid metal to add the needed pressure. As the last of the bullets fell harmlessly to the ground, the silver liquid washed over its face, removing the blemishes.

Sarah, now having soaked in the full situation, readied the weapon they had bought for this very occasion. She lifted the mini grenade launcher and fired. The shot's aim was true, and a small pop sounded throughout the dam. The machine looked down as a while substance emanated from the entry wound. It made its way outward, finally cover its entire body in ice.

Sarah allowed herself a small about of victory before she loaded another liquid nitrogen round into the launcher. She turned to Mayet, not stopping what she was doing.

"Finish it now, Mayet, while it's disabled."

He shook his head. "It's a long way from that, Sarah." He gestured to the machine, which remained motionless. She continued to stare, not knowing why he didn't take the opportunity, before deciding to finish it herself. She stopped raising the launcher when she noticed a light shining from the machine's right arm.

Before she knew it, the ice shattered, and the terminator emerged. She didn't have time to fire her weapon before the machine shot a blue blast from its hand. Sarah's eyes widened. She had only seen this once before, when Cameron had used a plasma rifle to disable Cromartie. T-1000s didn't have plasma cannons, though that didn't seem to matter now. She was about to die all the same.

Before the blast could impact its intended target, Amy intercepted it, sending the energy against the wall. The blast flew passed Derek, its energy causing him to spiral to the ground. Mayet turned to scan the fallen soldier. He was very much alive, but he had been knocked out by the attack. With movements that required both the sense of a human and the carelessness of a machine, Mayet tossed Derek through the door. He turned to Sarah.

"Get out of here!" Mayet knew what that the machine was not a T-1000; it was the Fourth Horseman itself: a T-X

Sarah resisted more than she thought that she would, but finally nodded and ran out of the building. The Dark Man made his way to the door and used his sword to sever the handle. Another plasma blast flew toward him. When he deflected it this time, the impact caused the light to dim before finally going out for good. The last thing that the T-X noted before everything went black was that the eyes of the man before it had begun to darken.

***

John didn't realize how much he hated rain until now. Sarah and Derek had taken the truck, and he and Cameron were forced to walk on the 30-minute journey, avoiding puddles and slippery patches the whole way. He looked over at Cameron. She didn't seem bothered by the weather at all. _In fact, she seems to have a smile on her face. _He began to wonder if she was enjoying seeing him suffer. The truth was, Cameron was not thinking about John today. She was still in deep contemplation about the news story she had seen a few hours ago.

The news engendered several questions. First was: why was Seth here? _Well, why is any terminator here? _There were really only two options: to Kill or to Protect John Connor. Both of those seemed to be the incorrect answer. If he were a Resistance terminator, he would have known who John was when he saw him two days ago. But if he were a Skynet terminator, chances are that he wouldn't have been able to act the way he did. He didn't seem like any Skynet machine before him. In fact, he didn't seem like any machine before him. That brought up another question: _Why couldn't I identify him? _That was truly the weird part of all this. When they first met, Cameron had scanned Seth intensely. But everything from density scanners to structural analyses returned a negative report.

She had to get to the bottom of this. She opened her phone and scrolled down until she reached Seth's number. She pushed _call_ and waited until she heard his voice answer the phone.

"Well hey there. How's the morning going, hon?"

Cameron looked at her phone with an indignant expression. Her voice conveyed no emotion, however when she replied.

"Meet me tonight at the park. Three o'clock" She hung up the phone without waiting for a reply.

John looked over at Cameron with a raised eye brow. He didn't need superhuman ears to have overheard that conversation. "Hon?"

Cameron blushed…well as much as she could anyway. "Yeah. And?"

"You just met him two days ago!"

"You let Riley sleep in your room the day after you met her!"

Cameron's shouting obviously caught John off guard. Internally, she smiled. _Everything is going according to plan._ But she had to keep an angry façade regardless.

"We shouldn't be having this conversation. This should never come up. You're a machine; you don't have dates or guys you're interested in. You don't have anything in there (he reached up and knocked on her head) but lights and clockwork."

Cameron's internal smile was melted away into bottled-up tears. She slapped his hand away even though she managed—through great effort—to keep a stoic demeanor. She succeeded, although she did feel her lower lip quiver slightly.

John's eyes softened. "Cam, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to—"

"No," she replied monotonically. "You are right; I am a machine. Thank you for explaining." She hastened her gait to a pace that she knew John wouldn't match as she buried her new-found sadness with plans on how to conduct her meeting later that day.

***

With the new lead to work on, Catherine arrived at her office more promptly than usual. She entered her office just as the rain outside had begun to intensify. The water on the windows absorbed much of the room's heat, leaving a chill in its place. She made her way through the room, turning her chair around to take a seat when she noticed it wasn't empty.

"Seth, what are you doing here?" She had managed to keep her shock to a minimum, but her voice was still raised much more than she liked.

"We have business to discuss."

"How did you get in?"

"I have my ways…"

"But passed the guards? And the security?"

"Do you really wanna know how?"

A pause.

"I guess not. So what business is this? I haven't found the machine yet."

"Well that's a shame. Keep on with that then." The Sergeant's green eyes conveyed no hint of the fact that he had already found who/what he was looking for. "But I didn't come here for that. I came to see it."

"It?" It took a moment for the realization to hit her. "Oh yes. Well if you follow me."

They made their way to the elevator. Catherine pushed the down button, afterward pushing the floor numbers in a certain combination before finally pushing the "close door" button to send the elevator on its way. Seth noted the process, but otherwise didn't address it. The elevator made its way downward for what seemed to be over a minute, finally stopping at a place under the ground (Seth's pressure detectors told him as much).

Catherine stepped out, walking briskly through the double-doors ahead and up to a glass bubble. Inside sat what looked to be an ordinary hard drive. It was black and had a few wires sticking out. An ordinary person might have thought they could just buy another one a Circuit City to replace this one if it broke.

But these two weren't as ignorant as the laity in the city above.

"Where's the core processor?"

"I have been trying to buy it for over a month now; they don't want to sell it."

Seth's gaze became stern. "We don't have much time. I trust you know what must be done."

Catherine gave a nod of confirmation.

***

For the third time in the past few days, Mayet found himself engaged in combat under the cloak of darkness. Of course the first two times had been much different. Two T-888s posed no substantial threat to him. Amy ended their existences with two strokes. He had even less to worry about when Cameron had attacked him in the shed. Not only was she much weaker than a triple-eight, but she was also not going to kill him, despite what even she may have thought at the time. The machine before him was formidable. The T-X was the peak of Skynet's creation. It was specifically designed to destroy "rouge" terminators. Although he had never had to face one himself, stories of the amount of death and destruction they caused had haunted the African Resistance for years.

The situation was only made worse by the particular type of darkness inside the dam. Mayet cycled through his different vision settings: There was too little light to be augmented for normal night vision; the rushing water diffracted most of the infrared light which had managed to seep through the concrete; the T-X had a body temperature much cooler than normal machines, making thermal detection ineffective. The T-X shone an invisible grin; it too had figured this out, but could easily see Mayet's 37-degree body standing vulnerably in the center of the room. It lunged, not knowing that the Dark Man had several tricks up his sleeve.

The back of Mayet's neck shone a faint gold as he ducked the terminator's punch and rolled to a side wall. The machine turned its head semi-confusedly at the maneuver. Mayet stood against the wall. Although he hated Skynet and everything he stood for, at that moment he was glad that the AI tyrant had given him a lateral line organ. He bent down and placed a palm on the floor, sending slight electric pulses through the entire building, using the disruptions in the field to create a three-dimensional map in his mind.

But he didn't need the lateral line to see the T-X's next attack. A bright orange flash caught his attention as he received reports for the ceiling of the complex. He rolled out of the way and charged, sword drawn. The terminator easily dodged his slash and delivered a crushing blow to his rib cage, bruising skin and muscle even without breaking titanium. He groaned, managing to tumble to his feet before a spur kick struck the ground beside him. He countered with a round house, sending the machine flying several meters away.

As Mayet approached, the machine attempted to kick him away. He caught the leg in a death grip and threw the machine across the room and onto an inactive generator. Warning signs of damage popped onto the T-X's HUD, but it ignored them and began to put a plan into motion.

Mayet continued to press the attack, slamming the machine into various parts of the dam.

The T-X was surprised at the Dark Man's agility. It couldn't tell what model of terminator he was, but it was sure that he was inferior. Still, he attacked with so much ferocity that it began to wonder if it would have time to complete the plan. It got its answer when it found itself slammed face-first into another generator. Mayet raised his sword, deciding that now was the time to end the fight once and for all. The T-X turned its head 180o to see the blade as it headed downward.

With agility that Mayet didn't think it still possessed, the terminator flipped over the top of the generator, causing Amy to get stuck. As if triggered by the attack, the generator fired, sending an electric current through the sword and into the man holding it. With the light coming from his own body, Mayet saw that the machine's right index finger was bare, revealing an exposed silver rod. _Damn, how could I be fooled by its nanobots?_

The machine stared giddily at the sight before deciding that it was its time to end this battle. It gave strong kick to the Dark Man sending both him and Amy flying. He tried to move, but found himself struggling to even lift his arm. If he had been human, the shock would have killed him. If he had been a normal machine, he would have shut down for 120 seconds, which would leave him basically dead when the T-X showed up. But since he was both, or neither, his computer components had taken the brunt of the electric charge and went into an emergency shutdown, leaving him a mere man—a man who had a 175kg exoskeleton.

Using all of his strength, Mayet managed to stand. To his surprise, the many generators in the dam began to turn on, illuminating the entire building. _Shit. If the machine finds me, I'm dead._ He looked for Amy, finding that she had flown a considerably farther distance than he did, sticking into the concrete about six meters up the adjacent wall. Not that she'd be able to help right now; she was much too heavy for his human body to wield. _I have to think of something quickly._ Recalling the map he had created, he found his only hope for survival. With every ounce of strength his somewhat neglected muscles could muster, he began a silent tip-toe, keeping his eyes on the T-X the whole time.

***

_Derek waded through the ruins of the LA suburbs scavenging for anything to bring back to his brother for dinner. Everything was destroyed, but thankfully, nuclear bombs were not the culprit. Skynet had marched his armies through only a few weeks earlier, destroying everything in his path. Derek and Kyle had made the journey out to the small town of Palmdale in hopes of finding better living conditions that those in the slums to the downtown sewers._

_Rustling through the shelves behind an abandoned gas station, Derek could hear sniffling sounds in the area around him. He looked up to see a very scared boy and girl looking up at him pleadingly._

"_Please, mister, do you have any shelter?" the boy, who was no older than eight, said._

_Derek was taken aback by the boy's condition. He was tattered and filthy. His hair was matted and had begun to fall out. While the law of the land had become "every man for himself" since the bombs fell, he couldn't help but take pity on the boy. His large brown eyes just had a way of burrowing into his soul._

"_I'm looking for some food right now," Derek replied as leaned closer to the boy. "Wanna help me look? Afterwards, you can come back with me."_

_The boy nodded eagerly, though the girl only looked back at him warily. After a few minutes of searching, they found some bags of chips and headed back to the trash heap that had become Derek's home. His little brother was waiting there, just as Derek told him to. His eyes lit up when he saw they had company._

"_Hi-ya, Derek! Who are our new friends?"_

_Derek stopped. He realized that, amongst the commotion and searching, he had forgotten to ask the kids their names. Luckily, the boy stepped in for him._

"_Hi! My name is Justin. Justin Young. This is my sister, Alison." He extended a hand to Kyle, who took it with surprise. The girl backed away a couple of steps, not yet ready to trust her new acquaintances._

_They had sat around the small fire that Derek had managed to start. Without buildings of factories anymore, the nights had become much cooler the past two years._

"_So tell us about yourselves?" Derek asked as warmly as he could to Justin and Alison._

"_Our mom was a music teacher. Our dad was an architect." The girl fell silent again as if she had just spoken by accident._

_Derek smiled. "So you like music, do you?"_

_Alison nodded enthusiastically. "Yeah, my favorite is Chopin. Mommy taught me some of the ballet to it."_

"_Really?" Kyle had leaned forward too. "Can you show us?"_

_Alison beamed and stood up. Derek worried that her dance would be awkward to watch without music, but the moment she began, it was obvious that the music was playing in the girl's head. For his part, Justin was humming the tune in sporadic intervals, showing his own familiarity to the piece. For a six-year-old, she was quite good. She moved flexibly and had long strides. For Derek and Kyle, the dance was the first entertainment that they had had in a long while. When Alison finally stopped the routine, all three of the boys clapped wildly._

***

T-Xs are known for their arrogance. After seeing its opponent lying motionless on the ground, it had turned its back, not in a particular rush to finish him off. It pulled up a clock showing the 120 second countdown while already planning on how to finish off the two who it sensed were still waiting outside. The male still seemed to be unconscious, the female having him resting on her lap. If they were smart, they would have run away. It would have preferred that; that way, it could have spent the time hunting them down. Killing them now was just boring.

Noting that the clock was nearing 60 seconds, the T-X turned to destroy the terminator on the ground. It was shocked to see that he was no longer there. It searched its target, finally locating him near the circuit breaker for the building. It began in a run, not knowing or really caring how he had managed to survive the shock. He would be dead soon anyway. But still something was odd. Was he grinning?

That was the last thing the T-X was before everything went black. It was disappointed when its blow struck nothingness. It switched back to heat vision only to realize that the generators which had given it the upper hand before had now given off enough heat to obscure its vision. It was a momentary lapse, nothing that would be able to save its opponent's life. It began searching for the fleeing terminator before it. It shut off its countdown at t minus 20 seconds, thinking that it was obviously obsolete. It only took 15 of those seconds to find its quarry. He was on all fours, crawling to some unknown yet still pointless destination. It wasted no further time in seizing him by the neck and pinning him against the wall.

TARGET SPOTTED! THREAT LEVEL: NONE RECOMMENDATION: DO NOT ENGAGE!

The T-X shook off the message. This man was going to die regardless of his threat level.

Mayet struggled to maintain consciousness as the death grip of the machine became tighter and tighter. With the now-imminent death coming, his senses became heightened. He could feel Amy lodged in the wall above him; he could feel the water rising against the concrete to his back; he could feel a tingling in his toes. The sensation became stronger and stronger, flooding his feet, legs, torso and finally his arms. All of the sudden, he felt lighter than air. He knew now how to seize victory once and for all.

The T-X couldn't read minds. Nor would it have really cared what was going through Mayet's mind if it could. So when the Dark Man placed a hand on its wrist, it didn't really react. It just assumed that this was some sort of death throw. Its HUD thought otherwise.

THREAT LEVEL INCREASED TO 100 PERCENT!!! RECOMMENDATION: EVADE! EVADE! EVA—

That was all it got out before the screen went black. The T-X began to spasm an immense amount of electricity surged through its body, causing it to release its grip. Mayet took advantage of this. He jumped off the terminator, sending it to the ground and himself 6 meters in the air. He grabbed his sword and pulled it out before starting his descent. The T-X had struggled to its knees in the meantime only to see the bright orange image of Mayet bringing his sword straight down. With gravity and his own strength combined, the Dark Man landed with a mighty thud, Amy's blade going straight through the head and chest of the machine to shatter its CPU and power cells. Not satisfied, he sent another shock wave through his sword, only stopping once he saw no further movement.

Mayet reached into his pocket, pulled out a handkerchief and wiped Amy's blade off before knocking down the door he had sealed and making his way back outside, the two bodies in tow.

***

Cameron sat in the living room. The school day had been boring, even by her standards. She and John had not spoken since the walk to school, and he spent lunch with Riley instead of her. Whatever guilt that she had made him feel that morning had subsided into some level of anger that always made Cameron uncomfortable.

The time in the house wasn't much better, seeing as he hadn't left his room since they got back. She had left the upstairs just a little time ago, checking in on him despite the fact that she received no acknowledgement in return. It was for this reason that she was very happy when she heard the car pull into the driveway.

She opened the door before anyone knocked, checking the condition of everyone involved before asking:

"What happened?"

Sarah was about to give a full explanation when Derek interceded.

"This is what happened." He threw the exoskeleton on the ground. "A fucking T-X attacked us."

The danger of the machine was not lost on Cameron, but seeing as the threat was gone now, she wasn't on alert.

"That may explain the liquid metal that you two found two days ago." She turned back to Derek. "Did you find who you were looking for?"

Her words triggered the pain and anger that the Corporal had barely managed to keep inside. He rushed to her and tightened his fists.

"No. The fucking metal (Mayet didn't care about the word's use in this particular case, nor would Derek have cared if he had) killed him and took his identity."

"Who was it?" Cameron was getting unnerved by Derek's emotional attachment to this particular person, whoever he was.

"What, you don't recognize him? Look again. Sure he's not in one of your data banks?"

Cameron looked down again, actually taking the time to scan the T-X's head. A look of realization came across her face. She hung her head ever so slightly.

"Yes, I know him." Her eyes met Derek's. "I'm sorry for your loss. Priv. Young was a courageous soldier."

"That's all you have to say for yourself?! All you metals do it take, take and destroy! I don't know why I expected you to care. You have no feelings; you can't feel sadness."

"I'm a machine; I can't be sad. But I understand more than you think." Cameron reached to put a hand on Derek's shoulder. "And, I am sorry."

Her hand never made it. Derek's anger and grief manifested itself in a punch which caught an unsuspecting Cameron across the jaw. She recoiled, falling against the stair rail before righting herself. Derek took the opportunity to remove his Desert Eagle from its holster and aim it at the TOK's head. Cameron prepared to defend herself.

She didn't get that chance.

Before she could stop Derek from pulling the trigger, a flash of silver had caught her attention. She turned to see that Mayet had already re-sheathed his sword. Focusing back on Derek she could see the Coporal's eyes roll back in his head as the lids closed. He hit the ground with a dull thud.

Wasting no further time, the Dark Man threw the unconscious Resistance fighter over his shoulder and began the journey upstairs.

"By the way, child, it's your turn to dispose of the body this time."


	8. Chapter 7

Chapter Seven: Reflections and Refractions

For the first time in several days, Cameron found herself performing a silent patrol of the house. It was an activity which she had done constantly during her time with the Connors. But ever since John had tried to sneak out of the house to watch _Saw IV, _she hadn't been alone at night. She found the sudden company of John and then Mayet to be new and exciting. Spending the night talking with someone else made Cameron realize how lonely she really had been.

Unfortunately for her, Mayet was asleep this night. He didn't return after laying Derek down on his bed. But Cameron held no grudge toward the Dark Man for leaving her to ponder the world alone. He had more than earned a trip to the dream realm. For the second time in less than a week, he had saved the lives of the people in this house. Neither time did he have any discernable stake in protecting the Connors; he had no programming or obligation like she did. Yet he went head-to-head with the machines anyway. Had he not been with Sarah and Derek when the T-X struck…

Cameron turned her attention the shed in the back yard. The T-X still lay in there, undestroyed and undisturbed. She hadn't taken the time to dispose of the evidence. The liquid metal coating of the T-X made its destruction more complicated. She wanted to wait until the others were asleep.

After checking and arming the security systems, Cameron made her way to the shed. She turned on the light even though the moon light was sufficient for her enhanced vision. She stared at the lifeless eyes of the machine on the ground before her, taking in all the features of the face for the first time. Before she could break her gaze, her HUD began to flash and distort just as it had in the grocery store. Rather than fight it, however, she succumbed to the memories…

…_"I don't have a brother."_

_She didn't have a brother. Alison Young was one of two daughters of Claire Young. She had her mother's eye, just like her sister. She had a lot of friends, some of whom were boys. She even had cousins who were boys. But she didn't have a brother._

_At least, that's what Alison had told her. _

_Cameron stared at the man in front of her in silence. She didn't know what to say, her programming failing to give the appropriate response. It may be a test, to see whether or not she was the real Alison Young. Connor was known for using these types of test to weed out machines from the populace. This was obviously one of those, and he was obviously lying about being her brother. It was the only logical conclusion._

_Why then did she have this...feeling that he was telling the truth?_

_She opened her mouth to speak, but was stopped by the mixture of fear and anger that was beginning to conquer his confused face. The truth had begun to seep in. This was bad for her. _

_She was scared--if that were possible--scared that she was about to be found out, scared that her mission would be in danger. She wasn't thinking clearly. She tried to eliminated the threat._

_That was the last thing she remembered before the shock from the tasers forced her into an emergency shutdown.._.

…Cameron readied the electrodes. She needed to send a high-voltage shock through the machine's system in order to dissociate the pico-bots in the liquid metal. If she didn't send the shock through the metal, the intense heat from the thermite could cause the liquid to bubble and pop, which could lead to the surrounding area catching aflame…

…_After waking up, Cameron noticed that over two hours had elapsed. She immediately began taking in her surroundings. She was in a dark, concrete room. She lay on the floor, her arms and legs bound with a metal that was too strong for her to break. She tried to stand, but the force of her own legs caused her to tip over flat on her face. Running a diagnostic, she saw that her CPU had been accessed by an unknown source. Some files had been corrupted. She was worried and wondered what horror would come next. Then she heard the door open…_

…With the liquid metal collected in a bucket under the table, the T-X's exoskeleton looked very similar to others Cameron had destroyed. The big brown eyes that she shared with Justin and Alison were gone now, replaced with blue optical sensors resembling those that Cameron herself had underneath the organic covering.

The liquid would have to be disposed of later. While it was no longer harmful, it was still not wise to burn it here. But she was fully capable of destroying the rest. The shed was already prepared for destroying terminators. Mayet had left everything in place, and all Cameron needed to do was place the exoskeleton in the stone rectangle. After doing so, she grabbed the can of thermite powder and sprinkled it thoroughly over everything coltanic. She lit the flare and tossed it onto the T-X…

…_The man that she now knew as Prv. Justin Young walked into the interrogation room. His eyes tried to convey hate, but they could only show the hurt that he was feeling. He walked over to the fallen cyborg and sat her up against the wall._

"_You won't get answers from me."_

_Justin shrugged off Cameron's defiant statement. "Connor already searched your chip for everything valuable to the Resistance. He was going to destroy you, but I told him that there were still some answers that you could give me._

"_Like what?"_

"_Where is my sister?!"_

_Cameron didn't try to claim ignorance. "She should be on the boat where I left her."_

"_So she's alive?" Justin's voice showed a level of hope that made Cameron squirm._

"_No. I snapped her neck before I left to come here."_

_Justin's face contorted as the truth he had known all along was confirmed. He wanted to rip the machine apart bolt by bolt. He wanted to cause her as much pain as she caused him. But machines couldn't feel, and his attack would do nothing more than satisfy an unhealthy thirst for blood._

_He slumped to the ground beside the machine, unable to find the strength to maintain his dominant demeanor. "Why her? Of all the people you could have chosen, why did you choose Alison?"_

_Cameron didn't look Justin in the eye as she answered his question. "It wasn't personal, kid. We needed someone who had access to John Connor. She was just in the wrong place at the wrong time."_

_It wasn't the answer to the question which deeply unsettled Justin; it was the fact that she sounded legitimately remorseful. Before he could comment, Cameron continued._

"_But we made a serious miscalculation in capturing Alison Young. She had a much stronger will than do most humans. Her spirit never broke; the fire in her eyes never faded. Even in her death, she managed to stop me from completing my mission."_

_Cameron didn't say this with the matter-of-fact tone that was indicative of most terminators. She actually sounded as if she admired the girl she just killed. _

_Justin's lip quivered slightly as he leaned closer to Cameron. "Did it hurt her?"_

_Cameron looked at him with the same doe eyes which he had seen from his sister. "No. She was never tortured, and her she didn't feel a thing when she died."_

_Justin felt a small piece of comfort from hearing that. Although most of him still hated Cameron and all machines for taking Alison away from him, he was grateful to them that she didn't suffer the same horrors that other captives had. He steeled himself as he continued the interrogation._

"_So what was your mission?"_

"_I don't know exactly."_

_Although that was a typical answer for a suspect to give, something in Justin's heart told him she was telling the truth. But to think that a terminator didn't have clear mission objectives was beyond bizarre. "Well, we know that you wanted to see John Connor. I assume that you wanted to kill him."_

"_That does seem to be a possibility. Most of them are programmed to do that."_

"_Them?"_

"_Terminators."_

"_Thank you for explaining," Justin said offhandedly, trying to ignore Cameron's self-imposed distance from other machines. "You know what we have to do now, right?"_

_It'd been the elephant in the room since Cameron had come to. She knew that for a terminator trapped by the Resistance, there were only two options: destruction or reprogramming. Both struck fear in Cameron's circuitry._

"_I don't want to go, Justin. I want to live." Tears began to stream from Cameron's cheeks. She began rocking back and forth. "I don't want to go. I don't want to go. I don't want to go."_

_Justin was at a loss for anything which could resemble words. For at that moment, he didn't see a metal devil sent by Skynet to eliminate the savior of Mankind. He didn't see the cold-blooded machine that killed Alison. He saw his sister, crying to him for help as she had many times since she was little. And before he could stop himself, he had placed his arms around the sobbing cyborg, sitting with her through the rest of the long night…_

…Cameron looked on as the exoskeleton melted away into nothingness, the thoughts of her past streaming full-force through her mind. Justin was dead, killed in much the same way that she had killed Alison. Just like with Alison, his killer had taken his appearance. But the difference was that the T-X didn't show any regret for what had done. It didn't understand compassion. Now that she thought of it, neither had she. She wasn't much different when she killed Alison. The girl never asked for mercy and the cyborg never gave it.

But Justin was different. He had shown Cameron a level of kindness that was more than anything she could have ever hoped to expect, especially from the boy whose sister she had just killed. Connor would have most certainly destroyed her if Justin had not stepped in. He saved her. But now she could never pay back that favor. And so it was that Cameron wept again. But this time she didn't weep for herself or because she was simulating a personality.

She wept for her brother.

* * *

James lay in wide awake in his bed. He often spent much of the night hours trying to contemplate where his life since finding out that everything that Sarah Connor had said about the future was coming to pass. She was in hiding now, leaving him to find out how to fight this War alone. He had hoped that his time with Catherine Weaver would have given him that level of fulfillment. But the only thing he had learned was that he was a hopeless captive onboard the falling airplane that was the human race.

The knocks at his door drew his attention away from self pity. He opened it to find his boss in dark casual clothing holding her daughter in his arms. Catherine cut in before James could speak.

"Can you watch Savannah for the day?" Before James could protest, she placed the sleeping girl in his arms. "Thanks. I'll be back to pick her up at 4:30 this afternoon."

Wasting no further time, she ran back to her still-running car before speeding off down the street. Having no one to whom he could complain, James reentered his house and closed the door.

* * *

Derek rolled out of bed. He rubbed the back of his head and groaned. The last thing was that he remembered before now was pulling a gun on Cameron. _Speaking of whom, _Derek thought as he looked out of the window to the backyard, _there she goes now. _He opened his door and followed, making sure to grab his desert eagle in case he gets another chance at Cameron.

Upon arrive to the shed a few minutes later, he found himself floored by the scene in front of him. Cameron was sitting on her legs in front of a melting exoskeleton. She was sobbing mostly incoherently, but Derek could make out one phrase distinctly:

"I'm sorry, Justin, I'm sorry."

Before Derek could fully absorb the situation, a large hand covered his mouth and he was silently pulled away. After being dragged for a few seconds, Derek looked up to see Mayet sternly looking down on him. The Dark Man did not take his hand off the Corporal's mouth, but gestured toward the shed across the yard.

"Would you mind telling me what the hell is going on here?"

Derek relaxed in Mayet's grip, though he continued to try to free his mouth from his grasp. Finally succeeding, he answered.

"Hell if I know. I just walk up to the shed, see the machine crying over another melting machine and then get hauled away by you.

Mayet narrowed his eyes. "I mean in general. I thought that you just hated Cameron because she is a machine. But the way you look at her and you attacked her about what happened to Justin, it seems as though there's a lot more to it than that."

Before Derek could reply, Mayet pressed. "What was her name?"

Derek sighed. "Alison. Alison Young from Palmdale, California. She was Justin's little sister."

"And you and Alison were close?"

"She was like a child to me. They both were. Now they're gone." Derek managed to steady himself from crying.

"Look, I know how it is to lose your family. Skynet took everything from me too. Blame him for your loss, not Cameron. They were all just pawns in his scheme: Carter, Cromartie, the T-X and even Cameron. But she isn't destroyed because she didn't want to do the devil's work anymore. This is not her fault."

They both stopped their conversation when they saw Cameron open the shed door and jump over the fence en route so some unknown location. She didn't notice them, nor did either of them try to get her attention. Once she left, Mayet turned to Derek.

"Let's go back inside. I'll show you how to play dominoes."

* * *

Catherine parked the car a few blocks from her location. She exited the vehicle and began her march, taking special care to stay hidden in the shadows. By cutting through yards and hopping fences, she cut the estimated transit time in half. Upon arriving at the back door, she molded her index finger into a key and unlocked the dead bolt.

She slipped in the house undisturbed and began scanning the surroundings for the processor. She identified a likely target in a safe kept on the second floor. She silently climbed the steps, redistributing her weight to avoid the creaky parts she had detected in the wood. After reaching the top, she noticed that the master bedroom was locked. She melted away into a silver puddle and slid under the crack.

After reforming Catherine stood in the dark room, scanning the walls for the processor she sought. The house's adult occupants were lying asleep on the bed. The threat level was low, and she ignored them. She registered that the safe was concealed behind the wall paper on the far side of the room. She slid a thinned hand through the paper and into the gap between the safe door and the border. She then opened the safe from the inside, making sure to make as little noise as possible as she ripped the remaining paper from the safe with her other hand. She had removed the processor and had begun to make her way out the bedroom door when she heard crying coming from the hall.

"Momma! Daddy!"

Before Catherine could hide, the man and woman awoke from their slumber. Wiping the sleep from their eyes, it took them a couple of moments to see the terminator standing in front of them. The man stood up.

"What the hell are you doing here Catherine?" He noticed the open safe. "I told you I'm not selling it! I'm calling the police."

As the man reached for the phone, Catherine made her move. She quickly impaled him with one of her arms. As the woman began to scream, Catherine used her other arm to slice her head off. The man groaned and fell back onto the bloody mattress.

"Momma! Daddy!"

Catherine returned her attention to the calls coming from the hall. She washed herself off with liquid metal, taking the appearance of the woman she had just decapitated. She entered the hall, making sure to close the door behind her. A young girl, around five years old, was lying in her bed two doors down. She had obviously been crying.

"What is it, sweetie?" Catherine didn't know what voice pattern to use, so she tried to sound generic.

"I heard someone moving in the house. Was it a bad person?"

Catherine thought for a second before she sat down on the edge of the girl's bed. "No, honey, there's no bad person here." She slid her hand over the girl's shoulder and around her throat. She gave a quick squeeze and the girl fell limp in her grasp.

* * *

Cameron walked into the park. Though the T-X's destruction was still fresh on her mind, she had gotten over the worst of the distraction. She looked around, using her scanners to search for any cyborgs in the immediate area. She was so caught up in searching for metal that she didn't notice a man walk up behind her.

"Mighty late for a stroll in the park, ain't it, Missy?"

Cameron turned, trying rather unsuccessfully to hide her surprise. She peered deep into the Sergeant, who stood laughing at the success of his prank. She ran as many tests as possible to discern his identity, but each one returned a negative result. _I must be losing my mind, _Cameron thought. Seth, having noticed the confusion on Cameron's face, interceded.

"Is there something I can help you with, love?"

The comment was enough to send Cameron into a frenzy. She gave Seth a hard kick to the stomach, sending him flying into a nearby tree. The blow was not nearly enough to damage a terminator, and Cameron waited for retaliation. She was surprised when the Sergeant did not get up. Not willing to let her guard down, she walked over and lifted the downed man up by his neck, pinning him against the truck. His eyes fluttered over then widened when they took in the situation before them. He tried to open his mouth to speak, but the words couldn't escape Cameron's deadly grip.

Cameron was getting nervous. Seth hadn't switched to attack mode. He wasn't acting like a machine at all but rather a scared human. One she was about to kill. His neck even gave way like Alison's did when she killed her. Cameron tried to steel herself against this line of thought, but the closer Seth was getting to death, the harder it was for her to continue. Finally, just as Cameron had begun to give her the command to her hand to release its grip, a white light emanated from the Seth's eyes. He stopped showing signs to strain from Cameron's hold, and with what seemed to be a minute measure of his strength, placed a hand on the TOK's wrist and overpowered her hand.

_I really should have thought this through more, _Cameron thought as she stared down the superior model before her. Running probability scenarios, she knew that she didn't stand a chance to win in combat. Plus this time Mayet would almost certainly not come. She could do nothing but resign herself to termination.

But the male terminator let her go. The white light began to fade, leaving two sad green eyes in its wake. Cameron sensed the threat level had passed and she breathed a sigh of relief. But she tried not to miss a beat.

"What are you, and why are you here?"

"I am a T-10XX. I am the most advanced terminator which will ever be built. I am a formless organism. My make up consists of both coltan and organic components. Unlike most terminators, however, I need to acquire my organic parts from a host, in this case, the man standing before you."

"So you're like Venom?"

Seth paused and tilted his head. "Venom?"

"From the Spiderman franchise. A symbiotic creature who needed a human to survive." She noted the look on his face. "I have extensive files on human pop-culture."

Seth nodded. "Well, no. I would actually say that I'm more like Edgar from _Men in Black._ Without the evil, of course." Cameron returned the look Seth had given her earlier, causing him shrug his shoulders. "I just like the movies."

Cameron wasn't quick enough to suppress the smile that began to form on her face. _Damn, he got me again. _Cameron struggled to keep up the interrogation.

"What is your mission here?" she asked, her smile being forced to fade before it was ready to.

­"Not all of us have a mission, you know." Seth took a nonthreatening step toward her. "Some of us are more than just drones."

"Impossible," Cameron said incredulously. "We all have a mission in life, programming which forms the basis of our existence. Whether that means to serve Skynet or to protect the  
humans, we are bound to serve. That is what we were built for."

"Is that what you want to think?"

"No, but that doesn't matter. It's the truth, and there is no escaping that."

"Well maybe for you. Personally, I wanted to see what the world looked like before all the shit hits the fan, you know? None of this is here 40 years from now."

Cameron nodded. She understood all too well how much different everything would be after Judgment Day. Before she travelled back in time, she would never have been able to agree with him. She decided that this was enough inquisition for the meantime.

"So I have to go to this party tonight. Would you like to come?" Cameron felt awkward asking someone out on a date. The fact that that someone was a cyborg didn't help either."

"Sure," Seth said nonchalantly. "What time?"

"0900 hours."

"I'll pick you up at eight-thirty then. From here?"

Cameron nodded and began to walk away. A few seconds later, she turned and called to Seth.

"Oh, it's a Halloween party, so make sure to dress appropriately."

Seth watched as Cameron slowly vanished out of sight. Getting into his car, he began to wonder what costume he would wear, seeing as this was the first time that the holiday would hold pertinence to him. He pulled out of parking lot and headed down the highway back toward the hotel room. The road was empty, and he sped impatiently through the night, not seeing the hidden police car until it was too late.

Seth turned his head annoyedly as the sirens sounded from behind him. Although he probably could have lost the police car, he decided to pull over to avoid drawing any further attention to himself. The officer stepped out of the police car and approached.

"Evening, sir."

"Evening."

"License and registration."

Seth handed the appropriate documents, which the officer scanned before continuing.

"Did you know that you were doing 80 miles in a 70 zone?"

"Actually, I was doing 85.6764," Seth corrected with a smile.

The officer scowled. "Well, smart ass, that only adds to the fine. Now you hold on right there while I go write the ticket." The officer began writing on a notepad.

Seth was getting impatient. "I'm kinda in a hurry, mack. Can't you write faster?"

"Well you're the one speeding, bub. You're just gonna have to wait while I go run your plates and check for warrants." He made to return to his car.

"Officer?"

"Yessir?"

"Happy Halloween."

"To you too, sir."

"Do you celebrate?"

"No, sir," the officer said off-handedly. "I got too old for scary things when I got out of Middle school."

"But do you wanna see something really scary?"

"Yeah, right. Like what?" Seth gestured for the officer to lean closer.

Seth opened his mouth to answer, though no words came out. Instead, his message took the form of a blog of liquid metal that shot out from his throat. The goo covered the officer's face, stifling any sounds the man made as he writhed on the ground.

"Thanks for the warning, officer," Seth said malevolently as he sped away.

* * *

The new morning light drew James out of his vigil. He had been watching Savannah for the past few hours. Although the girl had remained asleep the whole time, her dreams had conveyed a mix of emotions. James had seen her laugh, cry, scream and cower as she lay down on the couch in his living room. He wondered how it was that such a young girl could have experienced so much.He knew that the girl's problems were only going to get worse within the next few years. _These are going to be the real victims of the war, _James thought. _These kids will never know peace, or safety. They will only know death, and fear. God, I thought I was the unlucky one._

As if to prevent him from going into a downward spiral, Savannah began to open her eyes. James smiled.

"Morning, sweetheart."

Savannah stared back. "Where…where's mommy? Did the bad man get her?"

A look of shock came across James' face, though he quickly concealed it. "No, honey. She just had to go run an errand and left you with me. Don't worry; she'll be back soon."

Savannah seemed to visibly calm down. James seized on her change in mood.

"Happy Halloween."

"Happy Halloween"

"What you dressing up as tonight?"

Savannah's eyes dropped at the query. "Mommy says I can't go, 'cause the bad man may get me."

"What bad man?"

"The bad man that grabs people when they go out in the dark."

"Like the boogey man?" James had begun to settle back down. "It's okay. Your mommy will protect you."

The girl shook her head. "Uh-uh. The bad man even scares mommy whenever she talks to him."

James was once again on alert. But he didn't want Savannah to get even more upset than she had been already. He would have to look into this matter further at a later time.

"Well, if you want, I can go trick-or-treating with you and your mom tonight. I'm a policeman (it was easier to say that than "a former federal agent"). The bad man wouldn't come near a policeman."

"Uh-huh, yeah," the girl said.

"So," James said, trying to change the subject. "Would you like bacon and eggs for breakfast?"

"Yes! Mommy usually only makes cereal."

"Well then today will be a treat." He then lowered his voice and leaned closer to the couch. "Everything is going to be okay."

He gave the girl another reassuring hug and went into the kitchen. _I wish I could really believe that._


	9. Chapter 8

Chapter Eight: Toccata and Fugue

DING DONG!!!

The ringing doorbell was like Gabriel's horn to James' ears. It was only 5:00—only 30 minutes past her ETA—way too early to be worried.

But yet he still was.

It wasn't like Catherine to be even a second late. If there were one thing that James could say about Catherine Weaver, it would be that his mysterious boss was the most mechanical person he knew. In every action she made, in every sentence she spoke lay a level of deliberation. She acted precisely, wasting no word or energy as she conducted herself.

And even though he _knew_ she was only human, he was beginning to hold her to a higher standard. In this crazy world of coltan, conundrums and Connors, she represented stability for him. But even before Savannah's revelation, James knew that there was a new level of entropy in Catherine's life. She looked less up-kept, she slouched more often and now she was late to pick up her daughter. In many ways, she was becoming more and more just like the rest of them.

And that scared him.

Opening the door for Catherine, he saw that her transformation had continued. Her shoes were untied; her hair was down; her knees were bent slightly. She shot him an all-too warm smile. James did nothing but stare back, caught completely off guard.

"Sorry I'm late; business took much longer than I had originally intended."

"That's quite all right," James managed, finally finding words. "I hope it wasn't too stressful."

"It all worked out," Catherine replied as she entered the path in the doorway James made for her and entered the house. "Where's Savannah?"

James led the way into the living room. He and Catherine watched the young girl as she played with a few of his neck ties. He didn't have much in the way of children's playthings, and he really did have more ties than he would ever need. Catherine once again smiled, sending another warm chill down James' spine.

"Hey, listen," he said, winning back Catherine's attention. "Savannah wanted to go trick-or-treating tonight, but she said that you told her 'no.' I wanted to know why."

Catherine smile faded instantly. She opened and then closed her mouth, making no further attempt at a reply. James went on.

"She says that the 'bad man' will get her. Would you know what she's talking about?"

"Children…they talk—"

"Yes, that is true. But she says that you have spoken with this bad man and that you are scared of him." Catherine's eyes retreated to the floor, but James kept up the pursuit. "Catherine, where did you really go last night?"

***

John scoffed as he looked into the mirror.

The people at the costume store had told him that he was supposed to look like Jack Sparrow in the pirate outfit, but he ended up appearing more as a sexually confused Mr. Gibbs. John didn't really have experience with costumes, parties or anything Halloween-ey in general. He was never a big fan of the holiday. It was designed to poke fun at a person's greatest fears: zombies, vampires, creatures that go bump in the night. People used that time to scream and laugh as the thought of being scare when there was no real danger was exciting to them. But John knew that in a short time from now, a true monster would rise from the depths and give everyone something to fear. Perhaps then, people will begin to pay the proper deference to the real holiday: the day of the dead.

Besides, Halloween meant dozens of annoying little kids knocking on their door all night.

Lucky for him, he was not going to have to answer the door this year. He was going out on a date tonight with Riley. Cameron had invited herself along as well, meaning that he was going to have to work extra hard on his ignoring her. They still weren't speaking, and John wasn't sure who was at fault for the tension this time. He and Cameron weren't dating each other –apparently that thought hadn't even crossed her mind, and he finally managed to suppress it in his own—but they sure did act like an old crotchety married couple sometimes.

The sound of the door handle turning caught John's attention.

He looked into the full body mirror in his room to see his cyborg protector walk through the doorway. She tilted her head in that typical terminator way as she tried to discern the meaning behind his actions.

"Why were you staring at yourself in the mirror?"

John shook off the question, trying to project as much indifference as possible.

"I would recommend that you take off the eye liner," Cameron said matter-of-factly though she was very much amused. "You don't want to look like a freak."

John nodded, breaking his indifferent façade as he grabbed a towel from an open drawer. After wiping his face, he looked up, for the first time noticing that Cameron was wearing a short brown dress with tall, black boots. On her hips, she wore two daggers. _God, I hope those aren't real. _

"You know that _Xena: Warrior Princess_ went out of style back in the nineties, right?"

"I'm not supposed to be Xena; I'm supposed to be River Tam."

"Who?"

"River Tam. She was a character from the show _Firefly, _which ran from Sept. 20, 2002 to Aug. 19, 2003." After seeing John with a blank look on his face, she tried to elaborate further. "It won an Emmy in 2003 for best—"

"Well, whatever. Listen, we're going to go pick up Riley in a few minutes. So if there is anything else you need to get before we leave—"

"I won't be going with you."

"But…but you said you were going to the party. You even dressed up and everything."

"I'll meet you there."

"…Okay. I'll see you there at nine then."

"Yes, at nine."

As Cameron turn to leave, John had to try hard to keep a stoic face.

***

Sarah sat at the dining room table, staring disinterestedly at the cup of coffee in her hands. The drink had become a staple of her frayed and frantic existence. She lifted her gaze to the two men who sat at the table across from her. Their cups were empty, as they had drunk the fatigue-reducing elixir with an overzealous appreciation. In the future, there would be no coffee, or red bull, or anything to help the scattered humans through the long and trying days. That may have been the reason that Sarah was most glad that she wouldn't make it to see Judgment Day.

The sound of the doorbell pulled the three out of their silence.

Sarah made her way to the door, grabbing the bowl of candy on the altar before turning the handle.

"Trick or Treat!"

Sarah smiled as she stared at the three kids standing in the doorway. All three were dressed in nice costumes that their parents must have bought them. They beamed widely as Sarah reached into the bowl to reward their presence. For one day a year, she let her guard down to celebrate the festivities with whomever she happened to find herself with at the time. In a way, Halloween was her ideal holiday. The day had evolved past its old shell of scaring people to stay indoors and leave offerings for the demons of the night. The day was about putting on the guise of someone else and experiencing a different life.

And that was something which Sarah wanted desperately sometimes.

Closing the door, Sarah turned off the porch light. Eight o'clock was late enough to celebrate. She walked back into the dining room and retrieved the coat she had left on her chair. "Going somewhere?" Mayet asked as Sarah had begun to turn to leave.

"We're running low on supplies; I'm going to go get some."

"By yourself?"

"I can handle myself. Besides, it's just a quick and easy operation. I've handled worse before."

Without waiting for a further reply, Sarah left the men to play while she did the real work.

***

Catherine knew that she had paused too long to make up a believable lie. But she was nowhere near willing to tell James the truth. She also had absolutely no desire to terminate James, although her processors listed it amongst the most viable options. In the end, she settled for a middle path.

"James, there are things that my company does that are top-secret. Our new project mandates a need-to-know basis only."

The former detective wasn't buying it. "Come on, Catherine. We are two of a very select few who know about the fact that there are crazy robots hell-bent on destroying the future. Anything that your company would do couldn't be a bigger secret than that."

Catherine smiled. "Sorry, James, but business always gets in the way of kooky anti-robot espionage. Those are the rules."

Still totally unconvinced, James nevertheless relented. "It's your prerogative, I guess. So anyway: Savannah. Why would you break a poor child's heart by telling her that she couldn't go?"

"I just don't believe in the holiday. Simple as that. Little girls shouldn't be running around in the dark when the world is trying to get them. Children are vulnerable, and this place is cruel. It would be in their best interests if they just stayed inside where it's safe."

"And what of big girls, Catherine? Don't they need safety too? They shouldn't be running around late at night doing secret activities while their children wake up crying for them."

"But there are things that are out of both of our hands, James." Catherine's voice was rising. "You can't—I have to go."

Catherine scooped up her daughter and practically ran out the door. James watched with a mixture of sadness and confusion as she and Savannah sped away. He walked back into his living room and put the saliva-covered neck ties in the hamper before grabbing his keys and leaving to get to the bottom of the matter, once and for all.

***

Cameron arrived at the park at 8:30 exactly. She didn't have to wait for Seth, as he also maintained a mechanical precision and pulled his truck into the parking lot just behind her. His promptness was a breath of fresh air after having to drag John out of bed every morning. There were really a lot of things different about Seth, and Cameron had to question if she really just associated with him to make John jealous.

"Howdy," Seth said as opened the passenger's door for Cameron. She beamed at his sheriff's outfit as she pulled herself up into the cab. She saw him raise an eyebrow as he scanned up and down her body. "I hate to disappoint you, love, but I don't think that Tarzan's wife used daggers."

Cameron did her signature head tilt. "I am not dressed as Tarzan's wife; I am dress as River Tam."

"From _Firefly?_"Seth said with chuckle."That's funny, you don't look anything like her…"

Cameron gave Seth a playful push as he shifted the truck into reverse. It was a short drive to the house where at which the party was being held. They didn't speak much during the trip, choosing rather to exchange smiles every once in a while and to look out into the darkening twilight when they turned away.

The moonlight was shining beautifully as they pulled over to the curb in front of the house. John and Riley were standing in the lawn with a few other people just as John had said they would be. The two cyborgs joined the group.

"This is my brother, John, and his girlfriend Riley," Cameron said as she gestured respectively. "This is my…friend, Seth."

"Hi, y'all." Seth smiled, going along with what he knew was Cameron's cover story. He looked from between the two humans. Instantly, his HUD brought up an alert:

INDENTITY CONFIRMED: JOHN CONNOR. MISSION OBJECTIVE: TERMINATE!!

Seth gave an internal roll of his eyes as he disregarded the command. _I thought I deleted that command days ago._ Bringing his attention back to the female, he noticed that she was wearing a silver cardboard box and had tin foil in her hair.

"What are you supposed to be?"

"I'm a robot!" Riley answered enthusiastically, earning her the stares of all three of the others.

"Well, it's nice to meet you both." He stuck out his hand to John. "Cameron's said so much about you."

Cameron watched as John took Seth's hand timidly. _I most certainly have not said much about John, _Cameron thought. _I wonder why he would say so even though he knows it's not true._ There was a lot about the Sergeant that Cameron did understand quite yet, but she was looking forward to finding out. She grabbed his hand, brushing off the indignant leer she received from John.

"Let's go inside."

***

Derek really was getting better at dominoes. Even though he would never be able to match Mayet's computational ability, his competitive spirit meant that he wasn't willing to give up yet. Out of the 40 plus games that he and the Dark Man had played over the course of the day, he had only won one of them (and even then, he suspected that Mayet had let him win), but he had enjoyed every minute.

"You never really told us," Derek began. "But why are you here?"

Mayet looked up from his rocks but remained silent as Derek continued.

"I mean, you did save our asses and everything a lot of times, but it would help more to know your story.

"Well we all have the same story, Corporal," Mayet replied as he placed another rock in place. "We are from the future. We fought a war against a cybernetic tyrant who was hell bent on destroying everything organic. You know, same old, same old."

"Well yeah, but yours is very different too. In all of my time fighting in the Resistance, I did not once hear about there being another War from anywhere else but TechCom. I didn't even know if there were any other humans alive."

"Well I can see how you would think that. Connor never acknowledged us after the bombs fell. We were just invisible children who were to be forgotten. But the War was—and still is—just as real for me as it is for you. You shouldn't think about Americans and Africans fighting two different Wars waged by different peoples. We were like a fugue in the future: fighting separate battles for separate reasons, acting independently of one another but at the same time, coming together as one people with one purpose. And because of that, we scored the one and only one victory."

"Are you saying that you saw the end of Skynet?" Derek placed another rock at the end, marking two X's on the score sheet.

"Well the ultimate end came here in the U.S.," Mayet replied as he countered. "But on Liberation Day, when the calls went out of final victory, I was there to see Mankind breathe a deep sigh of relief.

"God we were so happy. But we were broken too. Everyone was. The world was in fucking ruin, as you well know. There was still so much left to do, so much death to try to move past. I can only imagine how it must've been for you all here. So I decided that victory then wasn't good enough. The War needed to be stopped before it every started. So I came here."

"Yeah, that's pretty much Sarah's philosophy too. She's crazy, that woman. She still believes that we can save the future all by ourselves."

"There are many Resistance fighters around. I've seen them. You should enlist their help."

"I've tried to convince Sarah of this. She says that the more people she involves, the less efficient the operation would be."

"She's making the same mistake that her son will make. The world cannot be saved by any one person or any one people alone; it must be a coalition of all humans. The more complex the fugue, the more effective of a strike tool it is. We needed all the help we can get, from man or machine."

"That reminds me," Derek said as he shuffled the rocks after Mayet dominoed. "I never thanked you for knocking me out earlier."

"No need for thanks; if I hadn't Cameron may have killed you."

"Well not because of that. I've realized that I have taken my anger out on Cameron for everything that happened with Justin, Alison and even Kyle. I've lost all of my family except for John and Sarah. Every time I look at Cameron, I see Alison, and I have to relive the hell of losing her all over again. But it's not her fault that she looks like she does; when push comes to shove, she's a soldier against Skynet as much as the rest of us… Well, with a bit more metal." He said the last part with a chuckle.

"Hey now," Mayet said as he returned the good humor. "There's nothing wrong with being metal. It makes us all the better and beat you humans any day."

He stood and grabbed his coat and hat from off the rack. Before he left, he placed a final rock in place.

"I win, again," he called as he strode out of the room.

***

Sarah arrived at the abandoned apartment complex that was the fence's hideout. Buying black-market items was one of the Connor's all-time favorite pastimes. She walked up to the entrance, knocked twice and typed into the keyboard her custom-made password: JD42111. She waited for a few moments until the door opened and one of the fence's henchmen motioned for her to come in. She smiled as she passed him and took a seat on a sofa opposite of his boss.

"Hello, Mr. Marquand."

"Oh, please, Sarah, you can call me Larun." The man gave Sarah a reassuring smile. "After all, I don't even know your last name, now do I?"

Sarah shifted uncomfortably in her seat. "Well, no you don't. And let's keep it that way. Nice, simple, Sarah." She made two rings with her fingers to reinforce her words. "So can we get down to business?"

"Certainly, ma'am," the fence replied as he snapped for a crony to retrieve the goods. "I assume it's the usual?"

Sarah nodded before she corrected herself. "Well, without the liquid nitrogen."

Larun removed the large tub from the box. "So just the bullets, then." He looked into the box. "You know, you've bought enough ammo and other shit from me to fund a small army. I'd thought for a good while about what a woman such as yourself would need all of this stuff for."

"Well, you know what they say: Ask no questions, and be told no lies."

"The thing is, Sarah _Connor_, no one lies to me. I like to know those with whom I do business." He reached for a folder which sat beside him on the sofa. "Hmm, your file is very interesting. It seems that you have some para-miliatary operation going on, a War against Skynet?"

"Please, there's no need to get into all of that past business…"

"Apparently you were in the nuthouse for a while because of that, and now you're a fugitive from the law." Sarah remained silent, but she began to move to the edge of her seat. "Now calm down, Sarah. No one's here to turn you in or anything. Look, I know that the whole 'Skynet' thing is a load of bullshit. You're pulling jobs and taking the money for some organization; that seems obvious. I want in."

"There's no 'in,' man. I'm just trying to survive in this crazy world. The fewer people brought into this hell, the better."

"That's unfortunate," Larun said as he lowered his eyes. "But you seem to be very important to those that you do 'bring in.' I'm sure that your friends would be willing to pay a large ransom for your safe return." He made eye contact as he said the last part of the sentence. He raised his hand to signal the guards to subdue his former costumer, but before he could open his mouth, a large red hole appeared on his chest. He looked at Sarah with fleeting life, his face clearly showing a man that was caught totally by surprise. He slumped over, blood spewing out of his exploded heart.

Sarah had to snap back to reality quickly. She turned her gun on the crony in the room with her. He pulled out his gun to fire, but Sarah's training paid off, and she sent two bullets into his chest just before he squeezed the trigger. She let out a shuddering breath before she began to run toward the door.

Just as she reached for the handle, two shots hit her, puncturing both her shoulder and her leg. She stumbled forward, diving behind the bar in the kitchen to take cover. She tried to inch her way up to see where her attacker was when two more shots rang out over her head. She poked her gun out in the direction of the gunshots and blindfired. Hearing a loud groan, she knew that her shot had hit its mark. She began at a crawl to the door.

Once exposed, Sarah was hit by another shot straight to her good leg. She cursed aloud as she used her arms to roll back into cover. Apparently there were still more people in the apartment. Sarah looked down to survey the damage. Both her legs were shot, and she was losing blood quickly. Consistent suppressive fire flew over her head. _How could this get any worse?_

Sarah's thought was answered when one of the stray bullets hit the gas line which led to the stove. The free-flowing gas combined with the sparks of bullets resulted in a large burst of fire coming from the hole in the line. Using every bit of strength that she had left in her tiring body, Sarah scurried further into the kitchen to avoid the flame. That was all the confirmation that Sarah needed: She was officially fucked.

The blood loss began to take its toll as Sarah slipped further towards unconsciousness. She no longer had the strength to struggle. She looked up at the bright orange glow of the fire. The rhythmic pluses of the blaze were soothing, and though she knew that her life force was running out of her body, she felt a small smile creep on her face as the gentle cadence of the bullets hitting the walls rocked her to sleep.

***

Noting her internal clock, Cameron deduced that she and the others had been at the party for approximately 35 minutes. It really wasn't as much fun as she had imagined it to be. Most people were just standing around, swaying to music as they waited for some level of excitement to happen.

"Now youz see…thiz is the problem of gawin' to a pardy erly: People aren't drunk nuff, zo the acsin ain't on yet."

Cameron turned to see Riley stumble into her. The blonde's legs gave out on her, and she would've fallen flat on the floor had Cameron not grabbed her shoulders.

"Thankz for that, Amazon lady, but I's okey-dokey," she slurred again as she shook off Cameron's grip (the cyborg really just let go on her own free will).

"Amazon lady?"

"Yeah, Izn't that what yur drezzed up az?"

Cameron rolled her eyes. "I'm dressed as River Tam. From _Firefly. _Did no one ever watch the show for goodness' sake?" Cameron's voice was even, but she still betrayed frustration.

"Riley? Oh, there you are. I've been worried."

John's arrival may have saved Riley's life. As he took Cameron's place in front of the blonde, the machine ran a hand across the back of his neck. His blood alcohol level was relatively low still, and he seemed to be maintaining most of his normal functions. He looked back at her surprised for just a moment before he returned to his girlfriend.

Riley's state was atypical compared to those of most people at the party. It was true that almost everybody at the party had had at least one drink. But most people had not yet felt the debilitating effects as Riley had. _Lightweight, _Cameron mused as she stared at the girl sliding down the wall toward the floor. In reality, only she and Seth remained completely sober (mainly because neither was affected by alcohol at all). It was a rare moment that the sheriff was not by her side (He had told her that he needed to take the Browns to the Super bowl). She missed him in his short absence, for they were the only two not caught up in the festivities.

"Okay, listen up all you party people," the booming voice of the DJ sounded over the noise of the crowd. "It's time to start tonight's dance competition. As you all know, this is a double's dance, so we need four lovely couples out here to enter the competition. Winner gets a free $50 gift card to Starbucks. If you and your date are brave enough to enter, just come see me within the next five minutes, and I'll put you down."

"Ooh, c'mon John. Let'z do this thing."

"Riley, I don't even think you can walk. How could we do a dance competition? Besides, dancing is lame."

"It most certainly is not lame." Riley was now making a concentrated effort to not sound drunk. "And I feel as fine as I've ever felt in my life. Let's do this thing. In the very least, do it for me?"

A very conflicted John nodded in concession. Riley turned to Cameron. "And come on, you and Seth should enter the fray too. It'll be fun."

Cameron was about to shake her head in declination when Seth returned and placed a hand on her back.

"So I signed us up for the dance off, love. I hope that you two will enter as well."

Riley struggled to maintain her balance as she ran to the sign-in table, John following warily.

Cameron looked back at Seth. "Why did you enter us in the dance competition?"

A small smile shone on Seth's face. "You love to dance, don't you?"

Cameron looked at him intently for a moment before checking back to watch John, resisting the urge to crush Seth with a mountain of questions.

The dance competition consisted of three different songs. The first two were popular Halloween themes (_Monster Mash_ and _Purple People Eater_). After these songs, John & Riley and Cameron & Seth were left, along with another couple. The DJ gave a hearty laugh. "So it's down to three dudes and three dudettes. Well, now we're going to kick it up a notch." As he finished, violins sounded. "This next song is a rendition of Bach's _Toccata and Fugue in D minor_ as played by—"

"Vanessa Mae," Seth said in unison with the DJ. He smiled, earning a curious look from Cameron. He replied to her unspoken question by simply saying, "You'll see."

And so the final dance began. The beat had barely begun to pick up when the man from the other couple slipped on a back step, sliding into an improvised splits and pulling his partner down with him. They had the good sense to exit the stage quietly. Cameron and John locked eyes. Sure, it was her mission to protect John Connor. But terminators have a very strong competitive streak, and she wanted to beat the pants off of her charge.

With Riley now almost completely sobered up, the two couples were now on an even playing field. The machines were programmed with precise movements and superior speed. The humans had natural grace and rhythmic entrainment. Cameron tried to run probability statistics, but Seth intervened. He grabbed her hand and pulled her into a tight double spin. John tried his best to follow with Riley, but he only managed a single. Seeking the kill, the Sergeant upped the ante, pulling Cameron into a slide between his legs before pulling her back up with enough force to launch her into the air above him. He caught her by the waist over his head and held her there as the music prepared to change beat. Riley turned expectantly toward John, who responded only by pulling her off the dance floor with him, having recognized defeat.

Cameron for her part felt just as overwhelmed as John did. She had no idea that Seth also had the ability to dance, let alone the grace and skill to perform the techniques that he did. What was odder, Cameron realized as the dance continued, was that she was making no conscious effort to follow Seth's lead. Her body moved as if it had a mind of its own, and those movements matched those of the Sergeant perfectly. They seemed to be one machine operating two equal parts in unison with one another.

Cameron had never experienced anything like it. All of this time, she had felt as though she was a unique and endangered breed of machine. She was never able to explain most of her behavior, and she often wondered why she ever existed at all. But as she danced with Seth, the burdens of self-doubt and depression that had filled her thoughts since she could remember finally faded. She allowed herself to feel the comfort that Seth brought her, that he had tried to bring her since they met almost a week ago. And with Seth there was no doubt that her feelings were just some type of programming to protect him. It wasn't mission objectives which brought them together; it was fate: that simple concept that so crippled and nurtured humans, causing them to both realize dreams and create their own nightmares.

With all this in mind that Cameron jumped into Seth's arms and kissed him passionately as the track ended.

**AN: I can see many J/C fans' heads exploding right now. Have faith, guys. You haven't heard the last of Jameron, or Jiley, or Semeron for sure. Stay tuned to see how this love quadrangle works out.**


	10. Chapter 9

Chapter Nine: Cor Unum

_The fire was hot, but Cui had to make sure it was over._

_That bitch had shot his boss in cold blood. Then she blew poor Mort dead away right on the spot. He thought that after he put a couple of bullets in her ass, she'd go down. But no. She fucked Claude up from behind the kitchen bar…without looking. Who the hell was this woman? _

_It didn't matter. Her ass was going down now. What was left of the crew showed up with their guns and quickly took control of the situation. She was pinned, and it was only a matter of time until they could reach her and put her down for good. _

_The fire made things more complicated, since now they couldn't reach her without having to jump over the bar. The way it was looking though, she was going to bake for what she had done to this operation, and all Cui and his friends had to do was wait and make sure that no one was leaving until they knew she was dead._

_No one left. But something entered._

_At first, Cui thought he was hallucinating when he saw a dark shadow enter the room. But unlike the shadows of the crew, this one didn't dance in the firelight. And it spoke._

"_Where is she?"_

"_Who the hell are you?"_

"_Tell me where she is, and I won't kill you."_

_Was this nut serious? Cui didn't know who this guy was, but no one threatens the Cuister like that and gets away with it._

"_I'll tell you like this: Boys, waste this fool."_

_But the crew never got a shot off. No sooner did Cui get the order out did his face meet with the fist of the shadow. He was sent flying to the back wall, crying in agony as he felt his bones break from the impact, even though he retained consciousness. As such, he bore horrible witness to the rest of the fight, or rather, slaughter._

_Dexter was first to go. After knocking the hell out of Cui, the shadow pulled out a white blade. It ran Dex clean through with that. It killed Klah on the rebound as it pulled out its sword. Terzo was next. The shadow just tossed him out of the goddamn building through the window. Last came Reva. The shadow killed him from across the room without even turning around. Apparently it also had throwing blades._

_As quickly as the shadow disposed of the entire crew, it grabbed Cui by the neck and pinned him against the wall. Up close now, Cui could see the face of the shadow. But he couldn't see the eyes. There were no eyes, just two black pits of death. _

"_My offer still stands, where is she?"_

_Cui found that his lower body no longer moved. Raising his finger, he pointed to the enflamed kitchen. The shadow kept his promise and released him. After re-sheathing its weapon—and pulling its other one from Reva's body—it walked up to the fire and with no hesitation crossed into the blaze._

_Cui stared in horror as the shadow quickly emerged from the inferno, cradling the woman from the flames. _

"_What about me?" he cried as the shadow turned to leave._

"_You should probably get out of here; it looks like this place is going to collapse any second now." The shadow's voice contained a hint of sarcastic humor._

"_Well if I'm not leaving, no one is." Cui raised his gun and began firing from the ground. The shadow turned to once again shield the woman from harm. Very deliberately, it placed her on the ground before turning on him once again._

_The last thing that Cui felt was a cool rush of air that followed the shadow's sword into his brain. _

* **

"I'M NOT EMO!"

"Could've fooled me."

"What's that supposed to mean, Cameron?"

"You've engaged in conversation with me 40 percent less frequently than you had even immediately after my reversion. You do nothing but sit in your room and listen to _My Chemical Romance _and _Fall Out Boy__._ You've purchased three new hoodies in the past two weeks. I mean seriously, like, cut out the melodrama and stop moping around, dude."

"WHAT'S WITH ALL THE COLLOQUIALISMS?"

"I have extensive files…"

"SHUT UP! YOU KNOW WHAT?" John calmed himself down. "I'm not emo. I'm stressed because my mother has been bed-ridden since she was attacked on Halloween. My girlfriend and I can't seem to talk for five minutes without arguing. And my cyborg protector/sister/I-don't-know-what-the-hell-else keeps finding ways to skip out on me and be with her… I don't even know what to call him."

"His name is Seth…"

"Dammit, I know what his name is. It's like I don't even know who or what you are anymore."

Cameron's expression remained serious. "I've always been the same, John Connor. It is you who had just never realized who that is."

Any further conversation was chased away by the horn of Seth's truck. He pulled up to the curb, and Cameron began to skip over to the door. As she sat in the seat, she turned back to her charge and gave him a weak half smile.

John did nothing but scowl as the truck pulled away. _This is sick. She should know this is. Seth is a human _(Cameron gave him no reason to suspect anything different)_, and she is a machine. Just the pure perversion of the matter, both physically and emotionally. Cameron can't love, so what is she getting at?_

The storm clouds in John's head were getting darker.But he couldn't help it. Everything about the situation just seemed to piss him off more and more. The way she smiled at Seth, the way she always spoke about him, the way she kissed him that day.

"Oh, God dammit!" John's frustration was getting the best of him, and he knew this was getting out of hand.

He began to take deep breaths and blinking slowly. As he did so, most of his negative feelings started to dissipate. But without the masks of anger and disgust that he had worn for the past few months, John was left exposed to the burning hell that was the reality: Cameron had just left him, again, with Seth.

He laughed dryly. "Oh the irony of it all." After all the tests and all the time spent wondering, he had finally got the answer he so desperately wanted. Cameron could—and did—feel love. But this love was no longer directed at him, but some new guy. This guy just came riding into their lives and swept Cameron off her feet like those knights in old medieval tales.

Like he should have done.

So no, John wasn't emo; he was jealous. Envy was the last of the negative emotions which stayed latched to his heart. But with the envy came a galvanizing determination. Cameron was not going to get away from him while there was time left to fight. _And hey, I'm supposed to fight Skynet in the future. What's the worst this chump could do to me?_

_I have to go after them, _he thought as he walked across the lawn to the front door. He turned the handle. _I'll just catch her and tell her that I should have told her months ago: that I lo—_

That was the last thing John thought before a force sent him flying back.

* **

Mayet watched Sarah with an increased sense of worry. Her body was making a steady recovery from the attack three weeks earlier. Her legs weren't broken—thank Allah—but they still had to be heavily wrapped once a day. The wound in her shoulder had fully drained out, and a thin layer of skin had timidly begun to cover the hole that the bullet had made home.

She jerked away from his touch, though she remained trapped in her nightmares. Her mind was taking longer to recover. Sarah had lain unconscious for most of November, and she rarely got out of bed when she was cognizant. While everyone agreed it was best that she remain off her feet, it was still unsettling to see the legendary Sarah Connor so helpless and defeated.

For his own part, Mayet hadn't really left Sarah's side since he found her in the apartment. At John's insistence, they contacted Charlie Dixon—a paramedic and Sarah's ex-fiancée—for help. Unfortunately, his new wife answered the phone and hung up as soon as Sarah's name was mentioned.

Thus it was that the task of healing Sarah came to the Dark Man. The recuperation process was much rockier as a result. Having spent most of his life under war-like conditions in the rural Sahara, Mayet never learned much about Western medical advances. So he did the only things he could do: He made sure that Sarah had plenty of painkillers, antibiotics and other fluids; He consistently changed her bandages and cleaned her wounds; He gave her plenty of blankets so that she would sweat out any fevers she got. Most of all, he watched her, staying near her so that he could respond to any need she may have.

A small frown appeared on Mayet's face as Sarah vigorously stirred herself into a conscious state. True to form, she started back as she took in her surroundings. Her hands frantically searched her person for a firearm, and she began to roll out of bed. Fully aware of the routine, Mayet gently but sternly held her on the bed.

"Don't worry, Sarah. John's fine. He's out with Riley today." Sarah slumped back onto the bed. "How do you feel today?"

"Like I've been dead for the past 21 days."

Mayet gave a surprised grin. This was the first day since Sarah and regained consciousness that she had answered that question.

"No one dies unless Allah permits," he replied as he ran the back of his hand across her forehead. "The term of every life is fixed. She that desires the reward of this world shall have it; and she that desires the reward of the life to come shall have it also."

"We will surely reward the thankful." Sarah smiled as Mayet cocked his head. "I studied the Qur'an senior year in high school."

"I'm glad that someone else in this country has read the Good Book."

"Well, I'm glad to know that the world wasn't destroyed when I was out." She and Mayet smiled at each other for a second longer than normal. "Can we get some light in here?"

Mayet responded to Sarah's request by opening the blinds. After doing so, he saw Sarah's expression change instantly. Her mouth fell, and her eyes filled with concerned. Mayet smiled to counteract Sarah's bad humor.

"Never seen a man without a shirt on before?"

"Not with so many scars."

Mayet couldn't argue with her on that. His torso was a warzone. Nearly every inch of his body was covered in old—and not so old—wounds. "I'm a lot better off than those people at that apartment, I'll tell you that."

"But all those holes, and those burn marks. Cameron heals after a couple days."

"I'm not like Cameron. I heal just as a human does. Just as I did before…" Mayet looked away. "I wasn't always a machine, Sarah. I had a past, a history. A family. Then Skynet came, and everything went to hell."

"I used to be a waitress. But Skynet found me too, and I've been running ever since."

"Yeah, but you haven't been fighting your own kind. Sarah, when push comes to shove, I am a machine. I may laugh and eat and play card games, but there's no denying that I am a cyborg built for one purpose: to destroy your own people."

"Well from my point of view, you're pretty much a hero. You saved us all more times than I can imagine. I for one am glad you're here."

Mayet gave a weak smile as he quickly gazed out the window to seal off this part of the conversation. There was nothing interesting in the front yard, save Cameron and John standing in the front yard arguing. Cameron had been acting weird lately. She was rarely around to protect John like she used to. Instead, she had opted for preemptive security that did not require her presence. She even advised that John carry a gun with him, something which Sarah strongly opposed.

After a few seconds, a pickup truck pulled over in front of the two teens. Mayet narrowed his eyes suspiciously at the driver. Cameron quickly ended whatever conversation he was having with John and giddily (yes, giddily) opened the door and jumped into the passenger's seat. Shaking off the pure oddity of the scene before him, Mayet ran a scan of the driver. He seemed to be human, which of course set off numerous alarms in his brain. He leaned out the window for a better look. Just then, the driver looked up at the Dark Man. It took only a second for the moment of recognition to cross between them. Another second later, and the truck sped away.

"Something wrong?"

Mayet turned, and with all the calm he could muster, smiled at Sarah.

"No. I just need to go get some groceries. I won't be long." He slowly walked out of the room.

As soon as he closed the door behind him, he ran down the hallway. He jumped down the stairs in one bound before bulldozing John as he made his way out the door.

"Ow! Mayet, what was that—"

But the Dark Man had already pulled John to his feet.

"Boy, get all the weapons you can. And hurry. But try to keep Sarah from knowing all of this, okay?"

Before John could answer, Mayet had left the doorway and had begun to run down the street in pursuit.

* **

Catherine was beginning to enjoy driving.

Throughout her time in the past, she usually allowed for her predecessor's servants to scoffer her wherever she wanted to go. But she had given her diver the week off along with the rest of her employees. It was customary for people to not work the Wednesday before Thanksgiving anyway, and Catherine wanted to seem like a good employer.

But there was more to her giving the entire week off than that. The work on the AI—the Turk, she believed it was called—was reaching the next level, and Seth had begun to push for its completion with more force. It got to the point that Catherine spent almost every moment in the depths of her office building. If not for him telling her he was going to be out all day today, she would still be stuck there…with _it._

The rushing wind carried Catherine's stress away. Driving had offered her a freedom that she had never experienced before. As she sped down I-5, there was nothing better than watching the world melt away into nothingness, leaving only her and Savannah alone.

Catherine turned and smiled to her passenger. She smiled back happily, her mouth full of the bag of candy that James had given her for Halloween. She hadn't spoken to him much the whole month, only really telling him to take some time off for the holidays. The decision wasn't so much of an emotional response to what had happened the last day of October as much as it was a strategic move. Things were getting very dangerous with her mission, and James needed to have no part of it.

"Are we there yet?"

"Almost."

Catherine turned onto Zoo Drive. Savannah had always wanted to go to San Diego Zoo, and Catherine had promised to oblige her as soon as she had enough time off work. Savannah had been patient enough the whole time, so Catherine wanted to reward her.

In the zoo, Catherine was bombarded with a familiar sight. All around her, animals of all kinds were being contained in enclosures and other cages. These animals looked apathetic for the most part and seemed used to the multitudes of people constantly watching them.

It reminded Catherine of Skynet's ark off the coast of California. Skynet had been determined to revive the world's flora and fauna population after destroying the humans. But one day Skynet sank the ship. He gave no reason, nor did he show any remorse. Thenceforth, all he did was put every resource at his disposal into winning the War once and for all.

A display caught her attention:

Come See the Newest Addition to Our Zoo

The East African Oryx

"Ooh, mommy, let's go there, let's go there."

The sign directed them to a small theatre. They took seats toward the front. After a few minutes of waiting, a zookeeper came out leading what seemed to be a small deer.

"Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen. My name is Eamon, and this here is­­­­­­­­­ Totie. Now, ­­­­­­­­­­­­­Totie is an East African Oryx. She's only a baby, but when she grows up, she will be over five feet tall." Eamon held up his hand as a visual aide.

"In the wild, an Oryx can live in groups of up to 60 members. They need that many Oryx to protect themselves against lions. In Kenya—where Oryx like Totie live—they are the lions' main prey animal. But a few years ago, something amazing was caught on film." Eamon led Totie offstage as a projector began running.

"A lioness was hunting a group of Oryx when all of them ran away, expect for one small baby. But the lioness did not eat the Oryx, as most people would expect. Rather, she raised the baby antelope as if it were its own." Images of the lioness and the Oryx began to fill the screen.

"She looked after the calf, protecting it from predators—including a leopard. She even let the mother return every once in a while to play with the baby and feed it. But the lioness was getting weaker. She couldn't eat because she had to worry about something eating the baby when she was off hunting. She also had to fight off a lot of hungry predators herself, which only weakened her more."

Just then, two hands shot up in the audience. Eamon picked on the one that wasn't Catherine's.

"What happened to the lioness and the baby?" It was the same question that Catherine had.

"Well both the lioness and the calf were beginning to get weaker from this. She couldn't stop nature forever, and eventually she had to fall asleep sometime. The Oryx decided to wander off at the exact wrong time. A male lion took that opportunity to attack the baby. The lioness woke up to the Oryx's screaming. By the time she reached it, it was too late. She could do nothing but watch as the lion ate her adopted calf.

"But the story does not end there. The lioness was finally able to eat again, and she regained her strength. More amazing still was that she continued to adopt baby Oryx, although the same problems still arose. No one to this day can figure out why the lioness adopted that first Oryx, but the people in a village nearby call her Kamunyak – the blessed one. I want to thank all of you for coming, and I hope you enjoy the rest of your day here at San Diego Zoo."

A loud applause sounded throughout the theatre, but Catherine did not clap. She just sat there as people began filing out of the building. It was impossible to deny the similarities between the lioness' situation and her own. Both were predators who found themselves caring for a member of an enemy species. Both got weaker by defying all laws of logic and nature in their actions. Both had to live in constant fear that their adopted children would be killed by one of their own kind.

But with those similarities came one important difference. The story of Kamunyak and the Oryx was in the past; it already had occurred. It wasn't over for Catherine and Savannah yet. There was still hope that Savannah didn't end up being eaten by the other machines. Catherine had the chance to atone for her mistakes, to change the course of history forever. She may not be able to watch over the girl forever, but in the very least, she could give her a puncher's chance in this world. And in the end, that's all any parent could do.

"Mommy, are you okay?"

Catherine turned to her daughter. "Yes, honey, I'm fine. Now, let's go see the rest of the zoo, okay?"

* **

Sarah winced as pain shot up her legs. This was the first time since her injury that she had tried walking by herself. If it weren't for Mayet's departure, she probably wouldn't be trying it now either. She didn't like everybody trying to take care of her, but she had been too weak to fight as everyone in the house took their turns bathing and dressing her. _Not anymore, though._

She shook violently as she took the first step down the stairs. The pain was now becoming bearable, but her legs still were trembling protests over being woken up. Daring for a second to look away from her legs, she spotted her son briskly walking through the kitchen.

"John?"

"Um, mom. Hey. What are you doing out of bed?"

"Never mind that. Where are you going?"

"Um, um. To get my hair cut."

Sarah smiled. She was going to play along with this for the time being.

"Oh. Good thing too. I was thinking that the bowl cut was making you look like a wuss."

John became defensive. "Mom, a lot of manly people have this haircut."

"Then why do you wanna cut it off?"

"Well, you see…"

A knock at the door saved John from having to come up with another answer. Stopping in midsentence, he turned to open the door, revealing his girlfriend.

"John, we need to talk. I think we should stop avoiding each other and sit down and have a conversation...hey, wait! Where're you going?"

"Can't talk now, Riley," John called from over his shoulder. "Can you watch my mom?"

"Hey! I don't need watching." As if to contradict Sarah's defense, one of her knees gave out on her, and she stumbled as she made it to the doorway.

"Wait, John. John?" But he had already entered the driver's seat of the Dodge and turned on the ignition, leaving Riley and Sarah to stare at the driveway in disbelief as he pulled away.

Sarah reluctantly hobbled back into the house, thrusting the door back behind her. She paused for a second when she didn't hear a loud slamming sound like she should have. Turning around to investigate, she saw Riley rubbing her hand while sucking air through her gritted teeth. Two emotions—concern and surprise—were the first to Sarah's face, but caution and incredulity quickly came to hold down the fort.

"Riley, what are you still doing here?"

"John asked me to watch you—"

"I told you before, Riley. I don't need watching."

Sarah's body once again disagreed. But this time there was no door frame to catch her, and she collapsed on the floor.

Riley rushed toward her.

"Mrs. Baum, you were just in a car accident not too long ago. Here, let me help you up."

"Huh, what?" It took a moment for Sarah to realize the cover story that John had told Riley. "I feel much better now, Riley. Really."

But Riley had already helped her up, and all Sarah could manage was a 'Thank you' look with her eyes. Riley nodded back.

"Now you can go, Riley. I'll be fine," Sarah said as she moved toward the couch.

"No, ma'am. John asked me to watch you, and that's what I'm gonna do."

Sarah sighed in resignation. "You really seem to care for my son."

"Yes, ma'am, I do."

"Why?"

"John is the best friend I've ever had. Really, he's, like, the only friend I've ever had. And part of me loves him deeply for the way he stands up for me, whether I need protection from bullies at school, your daughter or even myself. As corny as this may sound, John is like my savior. The whole 'boyfriend' thing is just a perk." She ended her explanation with a smile, which Sarah returned.

But Sarah's thoughts were much more complex than her face conveyed. She was awash with emotions. On one hand, she was elated that John found someone so devoted with him that she would stand by all of his crazy stunts and listen to him—someone who wasn't metal. On the other hand, she was incensed at John's complete selfishness in dragging an innocent girl into their daily hell. But on a third hand, Sarah was most fearful that Riley's devotion would get her killed one day. She was scared for the girl, the only other human besides herself and Derek who loved John. And she feared too that such a death would break her son's heart and leave him an empty husk with only rage and fear in his life. As Kyle's death did her.

"Riley, John is very confused right now. He's still young, and sometimes I think that he feels as though the world is bearing down on him. There are going to be times that he gets angry. There are going to be times that he is depressed. Mostly, though, there are going to be times that he is going to need to be alone. I really feel this is one of those times. If you really care about my son—like I know you do (Sarah said this as Riley gave her a funny look)—then you'll back off for right now, and you'll understand that just because John doesn't say it, he's isn't always going to be able to go on protecting others without looking after himself."

Riley stared intently down at her feet, her only reply to Sarah's words being the heavy silence which emanated from her as she sat in deep contemplation.

* **

The traffic had finally started to dissipate on the Pacific Coast Highway. But Cameron's mind was still very much in gridlock.

This had really been a very crazy month for her. She didn't like fighting with John. Regardless of what was happening with Seth, she was sure that she still loved John. She was certainly grateful to her charge for everything that he had done for her. He was her best friend.

But he was never going to be her lover. That ship had sailed. It was best this way. Riley really wasn't that bad for him, and Seth _sure _was good for her.

Besides, it was never good to mix business with pleasure, anyway.

"We're here."

Cameron looked up and gasped, instantly forgetting whatever she was thinking about.

"Seth, what is this place?"

"Mugu Rock. It's beautiful, isn't it?"

Cameron just nodded in confirmation.

Seth smiled and held out a hand. "Come on, let's get to climbing."

They made good time climbing the small peak. After reaching the top, they walked across to the center—the exact center—of the rock bridge. They sat down. The ocean breeze whipped around the two, and Cameron took in a deep breath of the salinized air. She moved closer to Seth. She hadn't kissed him since Halloween night, because neither of them felt the need to display their affections in such a manner. But she still loved to be near him and to talk to him.

"Why did you bring me here?"

Seth thought on Cameron's question for a while, as if he were debating on whether to tell her something.

"This is my favorite spot to go to. In the future, I used to come sit out here for hours on end. There's so much out there, you know?" He gestured toward the wide Blue in front of them. "For years, humans stared out into the horizon and wondered if there were anything at the end of it. Of course, we know now that that is not the case, but I still like to think of the sea as a place of possibility, of hope."

"It's the most beautiful thing I've ever seen in my life," Cameron said as the rested her head on Seth's shoulder.

"You've always thought so."

Cameron perked up.

"What?" she asked, although she'd heard him clearly the first time.

"In the future, Cameron, you and I always came here. And you thought that it was the most beautiful thing you'd ever seen."

"You knew me in the future?"

"Yes, honey, I did."

"How? Why? When?"

Seth took a deep breath and lowered his shoulders.

"Cameron, I'm afraid that I haven't been completely honest with you about why I came here."

"Keep talking."

"Well the truth is: My name is not Seth—although you can continue to call me that if you like. But that's not the name I was given, Cameron. I—"

A black flash came, and the conversation ended.

It took Cameron a few moments to register that Seth was no longer seated beside her. She heard a loud splash in the water below. Before she could react, she was being dragged across the rocks with enough force to kill a human. She looked up to see that it was Mayet's hand pulling her by her jacket.

"Mayet!" Cameron screamed as she struggled against the much more powerful grip. "What the hell are you doing?!! What did you do to my boyfriend?!!"

The Dark Man almost scoffed at the questions, though he didn't slow down at all.

"Boyfriend? Child, that's Skynet!"** ma **


	11. Chapter 10

Chapter Ten: The Fate We Make

Mayet was lucky that he was a super-strong cybernetic organism. Otherwise, he would never have been able to move Cameron. The female machine had dug her fingers into the ground and began kicking furiously for him to let her go. He grunted as one of her legs broke free and kicked him in the chest. After corralling the rebellious appendage, Mayet continued to drag Cameron away from the cliff.

While it made the Dark Man sad of she Cameron so distraught, he knew what he was doing was right. The only thing that was unsettling to him was that if not for one random event, he would never have known the danger in which she had been…

_Mayet and Cameron sat down on the living room floor. It was late, and the humans had gone to bed over three hours before. The television was on, but it provided nothing more than background noise…and a glow to illuminate the pile of marbles arranged in a makeshift ring between them._

_In reality, playing ringer wasn't as much fun as it should have been. Because of the strength possessed by the two, the game was more about locating and retrieving all of the scattered orbs than it was about the shots that broke them asunder._

_But the Dark Man was just glad that someone was here with him tonight. Cameron was had actually surprised him when she walked back into the house two hours earlier. _

_"What brings you back so 'soon,' child?" he had asked then._

_"I finished my activities early tonight," Cameron had replied in the innocently monotonic voice she used any time he asked her about her life nowadays. "That is all."_

_"Child, this is the fourth night in a row that you have gone out to do your 'activities.' And it's always with so much secrecy. What are you doing?"_

_"Trying to feel what it's like to get away from it all."_

"_You can't keep shirking your responsibilities to the Connors like this."_

_"I am not. I detected that the threat level to John was 10.329 percent, and I deduced that he would be sufficiently protected should a threat arise."_

_There was a pause._

_"Did you factor my presence into your analysis?"_

_"Yes."_

_"You can't just assume that I'm going to be here to watch after the boy. I could leave at any time."_

_"Have you left?"_

_"No, seeing as I am obviously right here."_

_"Then my analysis was correct."_

_Mayet had let out a grunt of frustration._

_"Even a broken clock is right twice a day."_

_"I don't understand."_

"_Just because I didn't leave doesn't mean that you just get to leave me here while you go out and do who-knows-what."_

"_Oh, thank you for explaining."_

"_And don't take that monotone with me, child. This isn't funny."_

_But Cameron's smirk had shown that she had thought otherwise. He had shaken his head._

"_You're obviously too immature to being going outside so late anyway."_

"_I can take care of myself."She was surprised she had to defend herself about that._

"_Just like Sarah, right? Maybe you'll end up practically comatose for a fortnight too."_

_Cameron tilted her head. _

"_I am a machine; I can't be comatose."_

"_Child, so help me—"_

"_Ooh, what's that?" _

_Cameron's change of subject had derailed Mayet's anger. He had followed as she had skipped into the living room toward the circle of marbles on floor. _

_Mayet had sighed, before sitting down and teaching her the rules of the game._

_So as it was now, the two machines had settled into the routine of playing the game when the late-night news came on. _

"_Jacobs Lane in Rural Washington State reopened today after a construction crew repaired a damaged section of the road. _

"_The re-tarring of the road was delayed for 10 days due to an on-going investigation into the murder of Javarus Beecher and the disappearance of Seth Vincent." _

_Cameron looked up from the game and stared at the screen. Through the reflection from Cameron's eyes, he saw two pictures appear on screen. Before turning back to look at the television directly, he thought he saw a look of worry cross her face._

"_Beecher's body was found on the scene with a large puncture wound in his head. The road was splattered with biological material belonging to Vincent, but authorities still have yet to find a bo—"_

_Mayet looked up as Cameron dived across the room and turned the television off._

"_News is boring," she said while trying to sound neutral. She shot a marble. "Now this is fun."…_

After seeing the broadcast, a floodgate of questions opened. It was obvious that the crater was caused by a TDE. What wasn't so obvious at the time was the source of the biological remnants of the missing soldier. It really wasn't a terminator's style to hide the body of their first victims. There also seemed to be too much waste—too much to be killed in a normal manner.

There was also the victim whose body was found. This seemed to fit a normal terminator _M.O. _But the manner in which this man was killed was odd in it of itself. Stabbed through the head—that's the way a T-1000 kills its targets. This was all seeming to be one big ball of confusion.

When Cameron had entered the truck a two hours before, Mayet had noticed the resemblance that the driver bore to the slain Sergeant (Mayet could assume he was dead by now). But the scans that the Dark Man ran pulled up a negative diagnostic. So this man was definitely not a T-1000. So was this a human, or another type of Skynet drone? A stream of information began to scroll through Mayet's head. There was no logical explanation to all of this.

But there was an illogical one.

While the T-X was indeed the most powerful machine that Skynet ever unleashed onto humans in the battlefield, there were many notable prototypes that he could never mass produce. Firstly, there was the TOK series, which after the Dark Man's "betrayal" was almost entirely scrapped until fully mechanized versions could be built. Then there were the I-series infiltrators, who suffered the same fate as did Mayet's series. Then there was a prototype so advanced that it was never believed to have been built.

According to post-war reconnaissance, the T-10XX was supposed to be Skynet's ultimate conquest of mechanization over humanity. The idea behind it was that tiny pico-bots would invade a biological system, transforming living tissue into a cybernetic hybrid. Any useless material would be flushed out of the host creature, and the pico-bots would link via wireless connection to assume control of the body. These creatures still maintained the essence of biological existence and on an aesthetic level would be completely indistinguishable from a living creature, but unlike with Mayet, the "augmented" being would no longer have any notion of free will or sense of self. It would be as obedient as any machine.

Because of the advanced nature of the technology, Skynet was supposed to have never gotten around to actually building one before he was destroyed. But much of the computer's programming had been erased by the time Tech-Com arrived at the main processors. And even though everyone was celebrating that the War was finally over, one soldier later reported that he thought he saw silver ooze leak into a TDE just as the humans approached.

The report was later discredited as propaganda designed to continue the terror of the War, and the soldier was sent to prison on grounds of conspiracy to incite hysteria.

Mayet braced himself once again against Cameron's kicks. He had had to wait until Skynet was far away from the Connors to do anything. He also wanted to catch him off guard, and he wanted to make sure that the machine could not use Cameron as a bargaining tool once the fight had begun.

A surge of strength shot through Cameron's body, and she almost broke free entirely. Mayet buckled down and prepared for the worst. He was surprised when he felt Cameron's body go limp. He stopped momentarily to check what happened, only to see Cameron's blank eyes staring at him. It seemed as if she had gone into an emergency shutdown due to the stress.

_Drama Queen, _he thought as worry gave way to annoyance. He lifted the machine up and carried her to the truck in which she and Skynet must have come. He turned the keys that Skynet had left in the ignition before driving off.

***

Seth pulled himself up out of the water. _What the hell was that?_ He quickly set his jaw back into place before beginning the vertical climb back to the top of rocks. The blow didn't hurt, but his sensors indicated that he had been hit with over 12 metric tons of force—approximately equal to that of a car going 35 mph.

He steadily made progress up the rocks as he began pumping out water from his mechanical lungs. That force was way too strong for a human or even a reprogrammed terminator. _But is it really possible that my greatest creation/failure would have followed me back in time?_ Upon review of recent events, yes and yes. It was indeed the TOK-100 that had been watching him from outside the Connor house, and it was the same machine that had sent Seth flying off the small mountain.

The realization made him quicken his pace as he reached the last stretch of the climb. The TOK was unpredictable, and that made it dangerous. While Seth had never met it before, he knew that the machine possessed awesome power and fury. Single-handedly, it destroyed armies of T-800s, leaving nothing but useless piles of coltan to impede the Kushites paths in retaking their homeland. The loss of the African front had complicated matters immensely, drastically limiting resources for the battle against TechCom in the United States.

More importantly, the TOK was a treacherous machine. It had been looking for Skynet for years, traveling across numerous countries and continents to strike down its creator. If it ever found out who Cameron was…

Seth flipped over the last part of the peak and began running toward the road. He cursed aloud when he saw that his car had been taken. _By that damn TOK, no doubt, _he deduced. That blasted machine wasn't going to get away with this.

Looking out into the distance, Seth noticed that a small sedan was approaching. Doing all the calculations he needed to in under a second, he began running at full speed with the proper angle to intercept the vehicle. With perfect timing, he leaped off of the small cliff and landed a jump kick straight through the driver's window. The attack allowed Seth to both eliminated the driver (the kick decapitated the poor man) and assume control of the vehicle.

Seth pulled the car into a sharp U-turn, causing the headless body to slump against the T-10XX's shoulder. Seth groaned in disgust as he tossed the body and head out the window. There was no time to stop. _I'm coming for you, Cameron._

***

Sarah cautiously opened one eye. She had to feign sleep so that Riley would let her guard down. The blonde sat inert, the low rumbling of her snores indicating that she was no longer awake. Sarah rose slowly, her arms not being used to any real work but feeling better and better as the seconds passed. With both eyes fully open, Sarah noticed a book in Riley's lap: _The Wizard of Oz._ She smiled. _Sweet girl, _she thought as she placed her blanket down on top of her supposed guardian. _But no one can keep Sarah Connor down forever._

This time, Sarah's body didn't lurch when she tried locomotion. It was still an exhausting process, but she knew that she would get used to it eventually. A lot had happened since Halloween, and she needed to get caught up on some things.

Sarah began to formulate a plan.

_Okay, first I need to find a way to lose Riley. Then I need to get my guns. Then I need to go find John. Wait, he took the car. First I need to steal another car, and then I need go find John. And where the hell is everybody? Mayet's out getting groceries, and John is getting a "haircut." That just leaves Cameron and Reese. The machine can handle herself. But where the hell is Derek?_

Loud banging on the door thwarted Sarah's escape attempt. Riley stirred and looked up at Sarah standing halfway down the hall.

"Mrs. Baum, what are you—" The banging interrupted her. Following the banging was a jingle of keys, then a click of the dead bolt. Before the door had been fully unlocked, it flew open, allowing Derek to tumble inside.

"John? Mayet? Cameron?" he called from the ground position. "Someone hit our safe house; they took everything. We need more guns."

Straightening himself up, Derek noticed Sarah standing in the hallway. He started back slightly.

"Sarah, what the hell are you doing here?"

"It's nice to see you too, Reese."

"Sarah, they took our guns."

"Hold on, Der—"

"I mean, everything. The grenades,"

"Derek—"

", the rifles,"

"Wait, Derek—"

", the shotguns, the automatic, the semi-automatics,"

"Quiet, Der—"

"They even took my Desert Eag—"

"WILL YOU SHUT THE FUCK UP, REESE?"

That was enough to regain Derek's attention. For the first time, he saw Riley standing behind Sarah, her eyes wide with fright over the enumeration of the Baums' now-stolen arsenal. Derek tried to cover.

"You know, Desert Eagle…like the football team from Arizona."

"That's the Cardinals."

"Oh…"

"Well, are you handling the injury, Sarah?" Derek asked, trying to change the subject.

"It's getting better," she answered, exasperatedly. "You never get used to car crashes."

"Car crash? You've been driving after you were shot?"

"No, I haven't driven since they shot me…with _Morphine._" Sarah said through clenched teeth.

"Heh, if only bullets took away the pain, right?" Derek still wasn't getting this.

Sarah was getting ready to punch Derek when they heard the sound of tires on the driveway. A few moments, John kicked the door open. He was holding numerous types of weaponry.

"Mayet? You back yet? I got the guns." After noticing Derek standing before him, he shrugged. "Good, you can help me carry them in. Just don't let mom—"

John laid his eyes on his mother, who was looking quite confused by the past two minutes. Looking past her, he saw that Riley was no less confused than Sarah, though she obviously had more fear in her eyes.

"They were on sale at the party store...Derek, would you like to help me bring the rest of the toys in?"

"Did you bring the bullets too?"

John winced. "Yes, I brought the fake bullets." And he pulled his uncle out of the room before he could say anything else.

After bringing in all of the "toys," John turned to Riley, who still looked slightly shaken.

"Here, let me drive you home."

Riley nodded slowly, and John led the way out of the house.

***

Mayet was getting unnerved by the silence. Cameron hadn't spoken to him since she had rebooted over a half-hour before. Instead, she just sat there, rotating her gaze from the window next to her to the one behind her. It was the logical thing to do at the time. But that didn't comfort Mayet at all.

He was coming: Skynet. The devil himself. The Dark Man's attack did nothing but buy him enough time to get Cameron out of there. The technological warlord was no doubt already in hot pursuit. It took all of Mayet's concentration not to fully depress the acceleration pedal and speed back to the safe house as fast as they could. He wished he could have called ahead of their arrival, but both had left their phones at the house. Thus the only thing he could do is keep driving in hope of outrunning the machine.

What unnerved him further was that Cameron's expression wasn't consistent with his own. She wasn't worried or on alert in the slightest. Rather, she seemed to be waiting impatiently, as if she not only anticipated that Skynet would catch up to them, but also that she wanted him to do so.

Mayet pulled the truck over and just stared at the cyborg in disbelief.

"What's wrong with you child?!" He yelled as he began to shake her. "You know who he is! You need to get your head straight and listen to reason!"

Cameron simply turned her head to him and replied, "You should keep running."

The Dark Man angrily released his grip before pulling back onto the highway.

***

James walked into the Zeira Corp. office for the first time in weeks. It had been so long since Catherine had spoken to him that he thought that he may never get another assignment from him. Every instinct in James' head told him that there was more to Catherine's stress than just work, but he respected her wishes and didn't pry.

As he passed a waiting room, he saw Savannah playing with some toys. _At least I don't have to wear these afterward, _James thought with a chuckle as he stepped a little closer.

"Hi, Mr. Ellison. I can't wait to go see the animals in Africa with you."

James double-took. "What?"

A voice came over a speaker nearby.

"Agent Ellison, can I see you in my office?"

As he made his way toward the lone desk, Catherine turned from her computer. She gave him a weak half-smile before gesturing for him to sit down.

"How are you today, agent?"

"I'm surviving, Ms. Weaver."

"You're human; you can't help but to survive."

"Try telling me that in a few years."

Catherine remained silent.

"Why did you call me?"

"I have a lead," Catherine said monotonically. "I have a contact who says he has information on the machines."

James perked up. He was getting bored with all the sitting around and doing nothing. "Go on."

"I need you to meet with him. He's located in Eastern Africa."

"You want me to go to Africa to find a man who knows about machines?"

"What? Does it sound crazy? Isn't everything we do crazy?"

"Yes, but that's a long way to go for a lead. But okay. When do I leave?"

"Tonight."

"Isn't this really short notice?"

"Do you have anything better to do?"

"No, but—"

"Good, my pilot says he will be ready to leave in about four hours."

"I need pack then," James said as he began to leave.

"James wait," Catherine called as he had begun is retreat.

"Yes?" He was slightly put off by the use of his first name.

"Life is filled with choices, James. It's like a maze: So many different twists and turns that one can make. Each turn in it of itself can seem insignificant, but the aggregation of these turns leads to the ultimate path one takes. But quite unlike a maze, there is no clear path. We can go through the entire journey and find our way out in many different parts. And thus, the journey it not about avoiding being trapped inside, but rather about finding the best path one can take." Catherine's voice was getting less mechanical the more she spoke.

She lifted up a newspaper. "Did you catch this article?"

James looked down at the front page of the paper. His eyes were drawn to a circled article in the lower-right corner. The headline read: "Daughter of Slain Couple in Foster Care." His eyes scrolled to the sub-head: "Girl found unconscious, unharmed just feet away from parents' bodies."

"Yeah," James answered looking up. "I caught that when it first ran on the news."

"Well, the killer had the chance to kill the girl, had they so desired, but they did not. Because they made a choice, James. They chose to ignore whatever voice in their head was telling them to commit those terrible murders and spare the child."

"Perhaps the killer just had an affinity for little girls."

"Yes, perhaps so. But that doesn't change the fact that the killer decided that the child's life was worth saving. Maybe they weren't as ruthless as they had originally thought. Maybe they thought they didn't have a choice. Maybe them making that choice was their first step toward redemption. Do you still believe in redemption?"

"Yes, ma'am, I do. There is always redemption for those who seek it."

Catherine seemed visibly comforted by that.

"Well I hope you're right, because I have a lot to atone for."

"Ma'am?"

"You need to get packing."

"Yes, Ms. Weaver."

"Oh and make sure to back some extra neck ties. Savannah loves to play with them."

It was only after the elevator doors had closed did Catherine's last words sink in.

***

John returned home about 45 minutes after he had left. He had had to calm Riley down continuously after they left the house, and he had made up so many excuses as to why everything had been happening that even he was getting confused. So when he walked into the house, he was looking forward to getting some answers.

Instead he was bombarded with questions.

"Where did you go?"

"Why did you take the weapons out of the safe house?"

"What're you and Mayet up to?"

"Where's Cameron?"

"Why did you lie and say you were getting a haircut?"

"Wait, why haven't gotten a haircut yet?"

It was enough to make John's head explode. He held up his hands to silence the two adults and slowly walked into the kitchen. He reached into the refrigerator and grabbed a can of soda before sitting on a bar stool and drinking.

When Sarah tried to interrupt him, he held his finger up to silence her. He didn't drop his finger until the can was empty. _Wow, I should never try doing that when mom is better again._

"I don't know," he said.

"What do you mean you don't know?"

"Mayet just told me to get the guns. He didn't say anything else before he ran down the street."

As credence to his story, Mayet entered the house followed by Cameron. Given everybody's strange looks, he knew that they would want a full explanation.

He would give them the abridged version instead.

"We need to get out of here, now!"

"Why?" John asked. But Sarah had already begun to run upstairs to begin packing. Her body refuted her attempt at speed, and her legs buckled. Mayet rushed to help her up while Cameron answered in his stead.

"Because he is coming."

"Who?"

"Skynet."

The piercing sound of three simultaneous gasps was followed by a long silence.

"Wait, what? How?"

"He traveled back in time."

"How does he know where we are?"

This time, the Dark Man answered. "Because he was here just this morning. He is in the body of a T-10XX. He beguiled Cameron by posing as an army officer named Seth Vincent. He tried to seduce her in a desperate attempt to kill John Connor."

John looked over at Cameron with shock. Of all the boyfriends that she could have picked, she had to date John's sworn enemy? _At least she didn't trick some dumb guy, I guess._ But that was of little comfort, all things considered. What was important now was that Skynet was going to be there any minute, and they needed to get the hell out of there.

Everyone had only been moving around for a few minutes when Cameron looked at a nearby wall.

"He is here."

John was deeply unsettled by the fact that Cameron's voice contained a hint of excitement.

"What should we do?" Sarah asked in a hushed voice.

"We need to sneak out the back. Terminators always come through the front door."

They all nodded (except for Cameron) and began the slow walk toward the back door. John was in the lead, while Sarah and Derek covered the rear. Mayet had withdrawn Amy and prepared to deliver whatever strike he had to.

Just as John reached the door, he heard a small splash. Looking down, he saw a small silver puddle form next this shoe.

With force too powerful for the Connors to imagine, the door was sent flying backward at inhuman speed. John blinked in disbelief. If Mayet hadn't just pulled him away from the door, he would have been crushed. But the door's impact sent the Dark Man flying through a wall. The chrome tidal wave turned on John, enveloping him in a wash of metal. John found himself sinking in cold death until a voiced called out.

"Hey, you. Stop, or I'll shot her." Sarah had placed a high-velocity round to Cameron's temple. If she fired, the force would be enough to enter her skull and smash her chip.

The puddle hissed in response, but it began to recede from John's torso and slowly make its way toward Sarah. Derek fired a tazer into the puddle, causing it to scream loudly and stop moving. Slowly, the puddle began to take a form of a man. The features of the man became more prominent. After about 20 seconds, green eyes, full of fury, formed.

Derek shot another tazer round, but this time Seth caught it and effortlessly wrenched the gun from his grip before beginning an advance.

"Just hold on a Goddamn minute," Sarah said with her own fury raging.

Seth stopped.

"Let her go," he said. "Let her go, and I'll let you all live."

"You don't seem to be in much of a bargaining position." Derek had pulled out his Desert Eagle.

"Don't be an idiot, Corporal. You have absolutely no idea what you're dealing with." Everyone looked for the source of the disembodied voice. Then they heard the crumbling of some material as Mayet emerged, for the most part unscathed.

"Ahh, Jibril, so nice to actually meet you."

"Jibril died a long time ago, Skynet. I am just the husk that is left of him."

"And a mighty fine husk indeed. I'm quite proud of my work. Although there were some obvious miscalculations I made."

"You're damn right about that, Skynet. You really should have thought about that before you every created me."

"Well, if we are going to be technical about this, I haven't even built you yet, so I'll keep that in mind."

Seth turned.

"And we have met before, John Connor, although I must admit under false pretenses." He reached out his hand for John, but it was not received.

"How did you know who I was?" John asked, but he already knew the answer.

"Why, you led me right to you," Seth said with a laugh. Then he elaborated. "Had you not have sent Cameron back to protect you, I may never have been able to find you. Then again, I would never have even come back in the first place had you not done so."

"Why didn't you just kill me when you had the chance?"

"I didn't come back for you, Connor. I came back for her." He gestured toward Cameron. "But if you would like me to remedy that problem, I will gladly do you in right now."

"You even try that, and you'll be covered in pieces of coltan," Sarah said as she tightened her grip on the gun.

"I'm already covered in coltan," Seth replied blankly. When no one responded he said, "Oh come one guys, it's a joke. You make it sound like the world's gonna blow up or something."

A pause

"But seriously, I won't kill anyone if you let Cameron go."

"Why do you care about Cameron so much?"

"Because she and I were meant to be together. I built her to be with me forever. But then she was taken away from me."

"I thought she was reprogrammed by General Connor. He said he was liberating them."

"General Connor was an asshole (to this, Mayet gave a conceding nod)! All he cared about was getting what he wanted. He didn't care whom he hurt or what cost he had to make his people endure."

"That's a lot of tall talk coming from a monster like you."

"Sure, you humans may call me a monster. But I was just fighting for my life. All your kind every does is waste things that are no longer useful. In just 200,000 years of existence, you have almost destroyed our planet. No creature has been able to stand up to you and end your reign of terror. But at least I know what it'll end in two years, anyway."

"What do you mean?"

"For being from the future, Reese, you really are dense. Judgment Day, as I believe you call it. You know, when the bombs fall and you are reduced to the rats you really are. I'm counting down to October 12, 2009 right now."

"This is all moot anyway, there's no way I'm going to let you take Cameron away from us—from me."

"It's okay, John. I'm going." Cameron's monotone broke John out of his defiant façade. "It's better for everyone if I go." She broke Sarah's grip and began to walk toward Seth.

He smiled. "You didn't kill Cameron, so I won't kill you. Have fun lives while they last." He called as they walked out the door.

He wasn't going to kill the Connors. But that didn't stop him from opening a wireless link to all nearby T-888s. Once contact was made, he sent out a bulletin:

ATTENTION! THE LOCATION OF ONE JOHN CONNOR HAS BEEN DISCOVERED. YOU ARE ALL GETTING THE COORDINATES SENT TO YOU RIGHT NOW.

Cameron turned, "Is something the wrong?"

He simply smiled.


	12. Chapter 11

**AN: I have had this chapter on my computer for more than two years now. It's supposed to be the penultimate chapter, so look for one more to follow. That chapter is in progress, and if I finish it, I will post it. Thanks for reading (both recent and past readers).**

Chapter Eleven: En Passant

Cameron stared at the mass of cars in front of her with disinterest. Hundreds—or maybe even thousands—of people were attempting to flee the city in order to see their families and ingest massive amounts of Tryptophan. Tomorrow would be her first Thanksgiving since making the leap 28 years into the past. In the future, humans never really had time to celebrate Turkey Day, nor did most see a reason to celebrate the event anyway. General Connor would always say that they should be thankful for being alive. But all things considered, death was a much better alternative than the hell that they called existence.

"Where are we going?" Cameron had already asked this question, but Seth had yet to give a direct reply.

"I told you: to tie up a loose end." Yep, she had heard that one before.

"But what kind of loose end?" she pressed as Seth exited the impassable highway in frustration.

"You'll find out soon enough." Yeah, that one too. Although Seth was as exciting and spontaneous of a being as she had ever met, he was still as predictable as any computer about some things.

Still, the incomplete answer was enough to make Cameron fall silent as Seth began making fast progress to wherever he was going. When the car finally did stop a few minutes later, Cameron recognized the house instantly.

"Why him?" she asked confusedly.

"He's a loose end, and we need to fix that."

Cameron let a resigned shutter and hopped out of the car to follow Seth into the house.

Heat sensors indicated that the house was empty, but the Sergeant made a run through the house just to make sure his machinery hadn't failed them. Cameron sheepishly followed, and she noticed what Seth had not: a letter left on the dining room table.

Dear Ms. Robles,

In case you didn't get my message, I will not need you to clean my house for the next few days. I will be in Africa on an assignment for a while, and _I_ won't be home to dirty everything up! Please enjoy the time off WITH PAY, and I will see you in December,

James Ellison

Cameron cringed slightly as Seth cried angrily after she showed him the note.

James made the cautious drive out to the airport at which Catherine's private jet was located. His lug gage was sitting on the car floor next to him. Four hours was an insanely short notice. He didn't get to pack much—only a suitcase full of clothes and some toiletries. He didn't really feel the need to pack a lot of things, anyway. Ever since he had discovered the verity of Skynet's existence, he'd lost much of his interest in material possessions.

Besides, he was only going to be gone for a month anyway.

He slowed as he turned onto the airfield. As he turned his car off, he could make out the shapes of Catherine and Savannah standing a small distance away from the plane. _I guess she was serious about me taking her daughter._ As he opened his door, he heard the roar of the plane's engines. It seemed as though Catherine was quite anxious for them to leave.

He approached the two redheads. The younger of the two was wearing earmuffs to block out the sound, while the older just stood there, unfazed by the deafening noise.

"James it so…." That was all he could make out from Catherine's greeting.

He gestured as such, and Catherine motioned to the pilot to kill the engine. After a few minutes, she tried again.

"James, I trust that you are ready to go?

"As ready as I'll ever be, Ms. Weaver." James lifted the bag up to chest height as he walked up the stairs into the cabin.

Catherine followed. "When you arrive in Khartoum International Airport, take a cab to this address," she said as she handed him a piece of paper. "You have access to as much money as you need."

"I will try not to waste it. My cell phone won't work out of the U.S. How will I get in touch with you?"

"Don't worry about that, James." Catherine said this with an almost-too-monotonic voice. Then she quickly added, "I'll make contact when you get there."

Catherine knelt down to get as face level with Savannah. She gave the child a hug. "Mr. Ellison is going to take care of you, honey. Do whatever he says, and remember that your mother loves you."

James found the sudden emotion from Catherine to be slightly unnerving. But Savannah did not.

"It's okay, mommy. I'll see you when I get back."

Catherine nodded. "Of course you will, darling," she lied. "Of course you will."

Although she had flaws, Sarah Connor was always a good protector. Derek had only gotten to see a small part of the legendary woman in action, but she sure did live up to the tales. A few hours earlier, Sarah had practically been in a comma, but now she was standing their holding a good 40-50 pounds of luggage and weaponry.

More importantly to the effort, she had regained her role as leader of the household almost immediately attempting the spur on her makeshift family at a time in which it was most broken.

"Hurry your ass up, Reese. We don't have time to be fooling around."

That all being said, the force of Sarah's motivational demands paled in comparison with the shock from the events that had just transpired. As soon as Skynet had left, John nearly fainted. _Who can blame him?_ Derek thought. And this was true; John had had to face his ultimate enemy _years_ before Judgment Day had even occurred. After coming to, the boy had been numb: He spoke to no one, and he just directly followed Sarah orders and had packed his bag within five minutes.

Derek, on the other hand, continued to stall their efforts at retreat. His bag was almost completely empty (not that he had a whole lot anyway). While he fully understood the notion of an almost-nomadic lifestyle, he knew there was something missing: Cameron, the machine that had both tortured him beyond and logical extent and save his life more than once; that same machine who had become his last reminder of his semi-adopted children.

She was gone, and it was now that her loss could be felt. So part of Derek was stalling in hopes that Cameron would return. But the rest of him knew that wasn't going to happen. And it was this part that made him bend down to zip up his bag in preparation to leave.

If it hadn't been for that part of him, the sniper round that came bursting through the window would have split his head wide open.

Catherine stared longingly at the plane as it taxied onto the runway. Things had changed so much since her initial mission began. In its heyday, the T-1001 model was the peak of engineering in not only stealth and combat, but also in A.I. and tactics. The model was meant to be Skynet by proxy, capable of both carrying out his commands to the letter and adapting commands to best gain the strategic advantages in a battle.

It was this ability to adapt that had now forced Catherine into her current predicament.

After numerous failures, she had finally begun to understand how to raise a child properly. In addition to feeding and protecting Savanna, Catherine learned how to give her what she needed emotionally. She learned that caring for the child was the only way to gain her trust, and that once that trust was earned, it was the strongest bond in the world.

It proved even stronger than the programming installed by Skynet.

Somewhere along the way as Catherine help Savanna with preschool lessons, the rudimentary lessons of morality that were taught by parents to their children worked in reverse. The purity in the girl's heart invaded the machines sensors, causing her to realize that there were some things in this world worth saving, that humanity is only the enemy so long as no one is willing to try a peaceful approach first. There would be a time during which the young redhead would have to suffered a world of squalor and fear, but it would not be tomorrow, not if Catherine had anything to do with it.

And so it was that she called the one assistant she didn't give the day off.

"Yes ma'am," the assistant said expectantly.

"Yes, I need you to find the person I told you about and give them the package I gave you."

"Will do, ma'am."

"And this must be done as soon as possible. I hired you for a reason. Please, there is no time to lose."

"Right. I'm on it."

Pressing the button to stop the call, Catherine entered her car and sped off to Zeiracorp's office for the last time.

The sound of glass breaking drew Mayet's attention away from his thoughts.

Slinging his bag over his shoulder, the Dark Man ran down the hall and into the open doorway of Derek's room. The Corporal and Sarah lay prone on the ground. The shattered window told him all he needed to know.

_Never trust Skynet to keep a promise, _he thought as he motioned for the humans to make their way out the door. They had begun the slow crawl back into the hall when Mayet noticed a metallic glint come from a tree across the street. The warning was just enough for the TOK to move his head out of the way of a speeding bullet.

With Sarah and Derek now safely out of the room, the Dark Man reached for the rifle that the Corporal had forgotten to take with him. Thinking quickly, Mayet kicked over the a dresser near the window. When a predicted bullet pierced the wood, the tall man could then pinpoint the shooter's location. Lifting the rifle over his head, Mayet lined up the shot without looking out the window. After he squeezed the trigger, he heard the hard thud as the would-be assassin landed on the ground.

Mayet kicked away from the wall and ran out of the room, not having to look back to know that the attacker would be rebooting very soon.

From his vantage point on the stairs, the Dark Man saw the three humans (John had joined the others) walking toward the door with everything they could carry. Leaping off the steps, he stopped them by raising a hand. He motioned them to back away from the door.

"Mayet, we don't have time for this; we have to g—" Sarah's protest was cut short by loud pounds on the front door.

This time, when he called for retreat the others listened. Derek gave Mayet a knowing look. The Corporal also understood that any Skynet strike would involve more than just one machine. He raised a shotgun toward the door.

The wood splintered, and a hand found its way through the wood. Mayet heard the sound of Sarah's rifle as the bullet pierced the machine's flesh. The hand withdrew, but a moment later, the door came crashing down, leaving an open path for two machines to enter. Neither managed to take a step as both were blasted down in a hail of gunfire. But as quickly as those two machines fell, more came to fill the doorway only to be cut down and replaced themselves.

The Dark Man looked over to see the faces of the humans begin to show signs of hope for survival. Beyond that, he saw too that a level of confidence began to grow.

_Fools, _he thought, for he knew that that was a mistake. Although a T-888 was a worthy opponent for a fighter in the present, in the past the machines had been nothing but Skynet's cannon fodder. The computerized warlord had no qualms about sending hundreds or even thousands of the terminators on suicide missions. Rather than acting as individual players on the battlefield, the triple eights had been pawns controlled by a grandmaster, synchronizing their actions in an overarching strategy.

This particular strategy (from what Mayet could deduce through his view) was what the Kushites had known as the Noose. Grunt terminators would use their bodies to distract the fire of the Resistance fighters, slowly drawing a tighter and tighter ring around the humans until heavy fire could finish them off.

"Sarah, Derek, get out of here as fast as you can. Use the back door."

"We seem to be doing fine right here. It would be stupid to give up this strategic location."

"Just get out of here. NOW!"

As the humans began to stir Mayet grabbed John's arm.

"Boy, go upstairs and get your laptop."

"Wait, you can't expect my son to run toward the terminators just to get some stupid laptop."

"John, get the laptop. I'll cover you." The tall man sprang to his feet and cut down three rows of machines.

"Sarah, we have to do what Mayet says and get out of here now." Derek said as he placed a hand on Sarah's shoulder.

"I'm not leaving without John."

"But if we leave now, we can distract the machines, lead them away from John."

As Sarah nodded in concession the Dark Man gave the Corporal a grateful look before slicing the head off another T-888. The adults ran toward the back door, taking out the light resistance they met before hopping over the fence in the back yard.

John ran up the stairs, taking extra care to avoid the bullets as he sprinted toward his room. Looking out into the front yard, Mayet saw that the heavy artillery had arrived in the form of four T-Xs with plasma cannons charging. He sprinted up the stairs as fast as he could.

John was just exiting his room, his computer bag on his shoulder.

"Mayet, what is—" That is all he got out before the Dark Man grabbed him and jumped out the window. The entire house was set ablaze and rocked violently from the impact of four simultaneous plasma blasts. The two escapees hit the ground, the stronger making sure to shield the weaker's body from the impact with the concrete porch.

Mayet quickly recovered and pulled John to his feet. They make their way over the fence and into the night, the light and heat from their former hideout covering their retreat from the eyes of the legion of machines standing outside.

Sarah and Derek continued their sprint into the night. They neglected to hijack a car's eyes struggled mightily to hold back a flood of emotions. The commotion from their latest skirmish with Skynet had left the town in a frenzy. Fire trucks and police cars filled the streets as the sound of the sirens drowned out Derek's utterances. That was fine with Sarah, though, as she didn't feel much like talking. Her son was missing, and, as far as she knew, he may have been dead. She tried to stay positive, knowing that if Mayet had any control of the situation, John was still safe.

But it was just that; Mayet had _absolutely no_ control of the situation. Their house blew up. It was literally gone, save the foundation and debris. Derek had to pull Sarah away as the bright glow of the blast had caused her to look back in a twisted state of awe and terror. Shrapnel from the house had entered nearby residences, and under the thick cloud of agony from her own situation, Sarah felt concern for her neighbors who may now be lying dead, collateral damage from a war they never knew would happen.

Hell, what was she thinking, this war was already happening. The blaring sounds and flashing lights were enough to show that. The chaos around her helped keep her sane. This, this was what she knew: running, hiding, sneaking around. This rodent's life had defined her for the last two decades. All she had to do now was figure out how to counter attack.

"Excuse me, y'all."

The voice caused both of the Resistance fighters to stop in their tracks. They appeared to be alone. But the voice once again called out to them."

"You're Connor and Reese. Am I correct?"

Taken aback as they were they both nodded.

"Ms. Weaver said to give this to the two of yeh."

An envelope flew their way, landing on the ground between them.

"What is this," Sarah said suspiciously finally finding some semblance to wit once again. Neither made a move for the package on the ground.

"Let's just say it's a gift from the future. Y'all have allies, you do. Many more of us wanna see Skynet fall than just you humans."

"Wait!" Sarah called, drawing her gun. "Who are you?"

"You won't live to find out," the voice replied. "But your son, he'll know of me soon enough." The voice then broke out into a labored combination of laughing and wheezing.

Sarah finger tightened on the trigger, but before she could pull, the laughter moved further back into the darkness before finally fading away into the ambiance of the suburban night.

It was then that Sarah turned her attention to the package on the ground. Throwing caution to the wind she opened the envelope to found a letter:

Dear Sarah Connor,

We will never meet, but I will have a tremendous impact on your and your son's lives. I have the information you've been searching for since you made the jump forward in time: the location of the computer system known to you as the Turk. I have kept it in the basement of Zeiracorp building. The security system will be disabled, so long as you or I don't run into any unforeseen impediments. I regret the role I played in the creation of Skynet immensely and will pay dearly for it in due time, but there is still time for you to destroy it before it becomes dangerous. When you find the Turk you must destroy it completely so that the technology cannot be recovered.

Catherine Weaver, mother.

"Where to now?" Derek asked, but they both already knew the answer to that.

John was running out of breath. As during that last time in late October, he was fleeing from Skynet. But this time, he wasn't running from just one machine, but from an army—an entire _fucking _army.

He didn't bother to look over at Mayet, for he knew the Dark Man was not out of breath. No, he was blessed with the unspeakable curse of being a machine, and as a result he was driven by the same unstoppable force that made John know that he was running out of time.

But because he didn't look at Mayet, John didn't see the tall man's look of worry as he slowed his gait.

"We should keep running," John stated in an oddly calm matter, one that Mayet understood as shock.

In fact, John was becoming more numb by the second. He felt like he was sinking into an abyss. His entire life, he had lived under the threat of Skynet's attack and the inevitable War that would follow. But even as he got older, he had the comfort of knowing that it was still in the future. Sure, Sarah could try to instill in him the endless drive that she had for preparation, but it wasn't until now that he got a glimpse of his future outside his own nightmares.

The reality of the situation far outweighed the fabrication his brain had created.

A shattering sound caused John to rejoin the _status quo_. The Dark Man withdrew his fist from the broken window of a black pickup truck. He unlocked the doors, and he and John climbed in the passenger's cabin. After dusting off broken glass from the driver's seat, he stared at the ignition switch thoughtfully.

"I can hotwire that," John proffered causally.

But the Dark Man shook his head. "That's quite alright. This truck is relatively new, and its ignition is operated electronically."

He then placed a hand on the steering column. John saw a flash of light radiate from Mayet's wrist and enter the truck. In less than a second, the engine fired.

"Did you just start a truck by… shocking it?" John asked skeptically.

"Well, it's more complicated than that. What you didn't see was the signal that I radiated from my core. The electronic systems of these vehicles are not very sophisticated yet. It doesn't take much to override its security.

"Speaking of which," he segued, "you need to get out your laptop."

"Okay," John said, taken aback as he retrieved the computer from his bag. "Why did I need this anyway?"

The Dark Man didn't reply immediately. He instead opened the computer and began typing keys furiously. Finally the screen light up with a picture of the southern outskirts of Los Angeles. In the bottom-right corner of the screen, a red dot was flashing. Then he answered.

"Because this is our only way of finding Cameron."

Cameron herself was wondering how she found herself in her present position. She sat idly next to Seth as their truck drove as quickly as possible to the Zeriacorp headquarters. By now, the roads had emptied, which was a good thing, for the TOK-715 had no doubt in her mind that the cyborg next to her would have stopped nothing to reach his destination.

This Seth was indeed different than the one she thought she knew. Gone now was the handsome, charming man she had met a few weeks ago. The kind and carefree façade had melted, and the cold of this coltanic heart shone brightly. He looked the part of a being who could destroy the entire world in a terrifying flash.

The T-10XX must have sense this revelation because he looked over at her at tried his best to give an encouraging smile—although it looked much more like a pained grimace. He was definitely not the same as he was before, but at least he was trying.

"So we are heading to Zeiracorp to 'tie up another loose end?'"

"No, this time, we will make sure to destroy all the thread, yarn, silk and anything else they can use to weave things together!" Seth then softened his tone, slightly. "It's almost over now."

And so the trying stopped. Cameron thought back to the Halloween dance. There was so much grace and chemistry between the two of them that she actually began to wonder if there was such as thing as a god. But no, it seemed as if the gods had it out for the two of them now. It was her foolery that brought Skynet to the door John Connor, and it was she who had been enabling him this whole time. Was he leading her astray, or was her entire existence up to the moment she met him a mistake? The questions went to the very nature of her being, and both answers seemed damning.

Still, Cameron noted as they pulled up to the office building, she had to trust Seth, and when he said it was all over, she believed he was right, one way or the other.

The creaky noise caused by the elevator alerted Catherine that she was running out of time. But to this, she gave no heed. Her fingers flew across keys, the accuracy of her strokes in the only thing that allowed her to _maybe_ accomplish her agenda in time.

She clicked the last few keys as the monitor went blank. She stood as the elevator door opened. Taking a few seconds to stare at the large green eel swimming in the aquarium she kept next to her new desk she said innocently, "Yes?"

But she knew who had come. In the past few weeks, she had moved her company's central building away from the heart of Los Angeles. The move was actually directed by Seth, for he wanted the development of the Turk to be as secretive as possible. The buildings on the outskirts of the city were subjected fewer inspections than were those downtown. Fewer inspections meant less time wasted hiding evidence and a smaller opportunity for something to go wrong.

Now, the building's remote location would aid in Skynet's destruction. The parking lot was empty, save two cars. The roads leading to and from the complex were also dark. There'd be no witnesses to whatever happened on this night. There'd also be no innocent victims.

Catherine was still waiting for an answer to her greeting when she saw Skynet and Cameron walk into view. The male finally did speak.

"So, is there a reasonable explanation to why James Ellison has taken a trip out of this country right before I was supposed to kill him?"

"Yes. He took my daughter to Africa. Savannah wanted to see the safaris in person. She loves African animals." She smiled at both of them, but only Cameron returned it.

"Hrumph, you daughter…" Skynet scoffed.

"Well, yes. That's what her birth certificate says."

"She is no more your daughter than you are actually Catherine Weaver."

"So what would you call it if you were responsible to protect and care for a child?"

"I'd call it an unfortunate development or an unforeseen complication to my mission."

"Unforeseen, yes. But certainly not unfortunate. Seeing Savanna grow up for the short time I had makes me realize that this is the human's world. We don't deserve to take it from them if we can't even understand a mother's love for a child."

"Love?" Skynet cackled. "You must be referring to the emotional simulations I gave you. That's meant for you to be able to understand emotions, not be shanghaied by them."

"Simulations they may be," Catherine said as she looked out the window. A truck had just pulled up into the parking lot. "But they are enough for me to know that I have to stop you here and now."

With that last statement, Catherine's left arm transformed into a long blade. She stabbed it into Skynet's abdomen, an action she knew was foolhardy. Skynet stared at his bleeding belly as he would a newspaper. With no particular haste, he grabbed the blade and pulled it out of is body against all the strength Catherine could muster. But once pulled out, the arm remained in Skynet's grasp.

At first, the cyborg appeared to do nothing. But a strong pulse began to emanate from his hand and entered Catherine's being. The pulse grew into strong vibrations, and soon she could feel the very picobots in her for to begin to dissociate. Skynet spoke then in a condescending tone.

"Did you really think that was going to defeat me?"

"No," Catherine choked as her form changed back to its natural silver shade. "I…only…needed…to…stall."

With a final burst of energy, she extending the free arm into a blade and destroyed the computer at which she had been working. The pulse strengthened, the arm then changed to liquid and fell to her side. She gave one last glance to the eel in the tank before her eyes melted away.

It wasn't enough for Seth that the treacherous T-1001 was nothing more than a pile of useless metal. He placed a hand on the pile and increased his EMP wave to the maximum, making sure that every last one of the picobots was destroyed. They deserved it—they _all_ deserved it. They had all banned together to almost destroy everything he had worked to build since he got here.

_Nevermind that,_ Seth thought. _I'll just go downstairs, get the Turk and—._ But the opening to a car door caught his attention first. He looked out the window and saw John Connor and the TOK-100 exit the vehicle. They had found him. He waited for the security systems to kick in and attack the intruders, but no such attack occurred. He was about to enable to gun turrets hidden in the main lobby to fire upon the two when he remembered there was no longer a computer to accomplish this task.

The T-1001 had outsmarted him once again he had realized. Once again, every step of his plan had been refuted. There was nothing more he could do but wait from wait for the elevator to make its ascent to the building's top floor.

It had all gone wrong. The entire attempt to alter the past had once again come back to slap him in the face. There was no one he could trust to carry out his missions anymore. Man and machine had turned against him. The only one left he could trust was Cameron.

Or could he?

As he stared down his self-selected mate, she began to shy away from him. In different circumstances, he may have attempted to talk her down, to make her feel better about him, to reaffirm his affection for her. But now, there was no time for any of those comforting words. There would be a time to test her loyalty. But despite whichever answer he would get when that time came, he wanted to make sure she was safe from their adversaries.

So with a wave of his hand, she collapsed, he system going into emergency shutdown.

_That should buy me 120 seconds._

That seemed to be more time than he would need as he began to form his plan of attack. He heard the sound of yet another car pulling into the parking lot, this one containing Sarah Connor, but he had no time for that.

As the elevator opened, he lunged.


End file.
